Georgia

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GEORGIA INDEX
Litre of petrol 1.60 GEL
Litre of bottled water 1.25 GEL
Bottle of beer 1.50 GEL
Souvenir T-shirt 12 GEL

With sublimely perched old churches, watchtowers and castles dotting its fantastic mountain scenery, Georgia has to be one of the most beautiful countries on earth. This is a
place where (except in the drabber, Soviet-built sectors of some towns) the human hand
has much enhanced that of nature. Finally putting post-Soviet internal strife and economic
stagnation behind it, Georgia is now developing its tourism potential and making the full
range of its attractions safely and readily accessible to travellers. Appealing accommodation
for all budgets is becoming available across the country and opportunities for exploring by
foot, horse or vehicle are expanding fast.
From the snow-capped Caucasus mountains to its semitropical Black Sea coastline, Georgia
abounds in natural variety. Tbilisi, the capital and by far the biggest city, has the atmosphere
of an age-old Eurasian crossroads, yet its also a 21st-century city with European-style nightclubs and eye-catching new architecture. Georgias deeply complicated history has given it a
fascinating cocktail of influences from Turkey, Russia, Persia, Central Asia and beyond, with a
wonderful heritage of architecture and art. But today Georgia looks to Europe for its future
and is the most Western in atmosphere of the three Caucasus countries.
Perhaps its greatest treasure is the Georgians themselves: warm, proud, high-spirited,
cultured, obsessively hospitable and expert at enjoying life. This is a country where guests
are considered a blessing. The abundant local wine flows freely, tables are laden with fine
food and youll never cease to be delighted by the warmth of your welcome.

FAST FACTS
Area 69,700 sq km
Capital Tbilisi
Famous for The Golden Fleece, possibly
inventing wine, Stalin, hospitality, mountains
and dancing
Official name Sakartvelo
Phrases Gamarjoba (hello), Gmadlobt
(thanks)
Population 4.7 million, including an
estimated 250,000 Internally Displaced
Persons
Patron saint St George

Street treat khachapuri (cheese pie)

0.80 GEL, chebureki (meat pie) 1 GEL

HIGHLIGHTS

Tbilisi (p47) The delightful Old Town,

tree-lined avenues, the Mtkvari River,
fine restaurants and fun bars; Tbilisi is
the most charming Caucasian capital.
Kazbegi (p100) Superb hiking; Tsminda
Sameba Church silhouetted against
mythical Mt Kazbek is a truly breathtaking sight.
Davit Gareja (p113) and Vardzia (p121)
Visit at least one of these extraordinary
ancient cave monasteries.
Batumi (p89) Georgias enchanting Black
Sea summer capital, with a party atmosphere against a backdrop of green,
mist-wrapped hills.
Svaneti (p94) The unique Svan culture, ancient defensive towers and the best alpine
scenery in the Georgian Caucasus.

ITINERARIES

Three Days Focus on Tbilisi, the fascinating

capital, but take a half-day trip to Mtskheta
and a day trip to Davit Gareja.
One Week Starting in Tbilisi, you have
time to visit the mountains as well as
Mtskheta and Davit Gareja. Try a twonight stay in Kazbegi.
Two Weeks See all the places listed above,
before continuing to Gori, Kutaisi, then
either the magical mountain stronghold
of Svaneti or fun-loving Batumi on the
Black Sea.

CLIMATE & WHEN TO GO

The best times to visit Georgia are in May,
June and September, when it is warm and
sunny but not overly hot. July and particularly
August are uncomfortably humid in many
parts, and temperatures regularly reach 40C.
However, this is an excellent time to be in the
mountains, where it is sunny and cool. This is
also the peak season on the Black Sea. Winter

GEORGIA Itineraries

37

can be grim everywhere, although thanks to

the buffer of the Caucasus Mountains which
protects the country from the icy northern
winds, Georgia rarely freezes. There is a surprising amount of rain year-round. See p312
for climate charts.

CURRENT EVENTS
Georgia enjoyed four years of relative stability following the Rose Revolution of 2003,
which swept pro-Western Mikheil Saakashvili
and his Georgian National Movement to
power. But a new political crisis erupted
in late 2007 as assorted opposition parties
staged big street protests in Tbilisi against
poverty, rising prices, and alleged corruption and authoritarianism in the Sgaakashvili
government. Claiming that a coup dtat was
threatened, President Saakashvili sent in riot
police with water cannons and tear gas to
clear the protests, declared a temporary state
of emergency, and shut down the Imedi TV
station, part-owned by his political opponent,
tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili.
The level of force used against the protests
horrified Georgians and alarmed Saakashvilis
friends in the West, but the president stood
by his justification and called a snap presidential election for January 2008. Saakashvili
won this with 53% of the vote over an opposition which had been caught unprepared.
International observers adjudged the election
to be democratic despite some irregularities,
but large opposition protests in Tbilisi over
alleged electoral fraud continued even after
Saakashvilis inauguration for his new term.
Parliamentary elections due in spring
2008 were likely to have a big influence on
the course of events. A good showing by the
opposition could lead to further protests and
instability. It seems many Georgians still view
mass public action, rather than elections, as
the way to change a government.
The crisis should at least have a sobering
effect on the Saakashvili regime, which in its
enthusiasm for free-market reforms is seen
by many Georgians as insensitive, inflexible
and uncaring. Georgia has won international
praise for its business-friendly reforms, and a
new breed of young, stylish, relatively wealthy
Georgians is enjoying life as never before,
shopping in glitzy new commercial centres,
quaffing cocktails in fashionable bars and
dancing to minimal techno in the nightclubs
of Tbilisi and Batumi. But with a national

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

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lonelyplanet.com

ARMENIA

Vanadszor
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(Border
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M11

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M7 Most
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KVEMO
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M6

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Lake
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TURKEY
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GURIA

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NORTH
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GEORGIA

Alazani

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average monthly income of just 107 GEL

(US$61) by 2007, its still a battle for most
Georgian families to make ends meet, and
Georgians still have scant faith in the integrity
of their court system or politicians. Following
his inauguration in 2008, Saakashvili promised to reduce unemployment, raise pensions
and introduce new social welfare measures.
Domestic troubles aside, Georgias biggest
headache is its fraught relations with Russia.
Georgias pro-Western stance and desire
to join NATO has given Russia the heebiejeebies, and Russia is generally believed to support the separatist regimes in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia. In 2006 the Kremlin banned
imports of Georgian wine and mineral water,
suspended flights, shipping and money transfers between the two countries, and closed the
last remaining border crossing.
Meanwhile Georgia is trying to resolve the
South Ossetia issue by supporting those in
the enclave who favour a federal status within
Georgia, rather than incorporation within
Russia. In Abkhazia Georgia has installed
what it considers to be the legitimate regional
government in the one small area it controls,
the upper Kodori valley. Georgia offers
Abkhazia broad autonomy on the condition
that the estimated 250,000 Georgian refugees,
driven out in the 199293 war, can return. But
Abkhazia says it wont even talk until Georgia
withdraws from the Kodori valley.

ki

SEA

100 km
60 miles

CASPIAN

GEORGIA

HISTORY
Georgians live and breathe their history as a
vital key to their national and regional identities
today.

Early Kingdoms
The Georgians know themselves as Kartvelebi,
tracing their origins to Noahs great-greatgrandson Kartlos. In classical times the two
principal kingdoms were Colchis in the west
(legendary home of the Golden Fleece and
site of Greek colonies) and Kartli (also known
as Iveria or Iberia) in the east and south,
including some areas in modern Turkey
and Armenia.
When King Mirian and Queen Nana of
Kartli were converted to Christianity by St
Nino in the early 4th century, Georgia became
the second country to adopt the Christian
faith, a quarter of a century after Armenia.
In the 5th century AD, western Georgia became tied to the expanding Byzantine Empire,

GEORGIA History

39

while Kartli fell under Persian control. King

Vakhtang Gorgasali (447502), considered the
father of the Georgian nation, briefly drove
the Persians out and moved his capital from
Mtskheta to the current seat of government,
Tbilisi. But the Persians were back soon, to be
followed in 654 by the Arabs, who set up an
emirate at Tbilisi.

The Golden Age

Resistance to the Arabs came to be spearheaded
by the Bagrationi dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti,
a collection of principalities straddling the
modern GeorgianTurkish border. They later
added Kartli to their possessions, and when
in 1001 these were inherited by King Bagrat
III of Abkhazia (northwest Georgia), most
of Georgia became united under one rule.
The Seljuk Turk invasion in the 11th century
set things back, but the Seljuks were gradually driven out by the young Bagrationi king
Davit Aghmashenebeli (David the Builder;
10891125), who defeated them at Didgori
in 1122 and recaptured nearby Tbilisi and
made it his capital.
Davit made Georgia the major Caucasian
power and a centre of Christian culture and
learning. Georgia reached its zenith under his
great-granddaughter Queen Tamar (1184
1213), whose writ extended over much of
present-day Azerbaijan and Armenia, plus
parts of Turkey and southern Russia. Tamar
is still so revered that Georgians today call her,
without irony, King Tamar!

Death, Destruction & Division

The golden age ended violently with the
arrival of the Mongols in the 1220s. King
Giorgi the Brilliant (131446) did shake off
the Mongol yoke, but then came the Black
Death, followed by the Central Asian destroyer Timur (Tamerlane), who attacked
eight times between 1386 and 1403.
A devastated Georgia split into four main
kingdoms: Kartli and Kakheti in the east,
Imereti in the northwest and Samtskhe in
the southwest. By the early 16th century the
Ottoman Turks (who had overrun Christian
Constantinople in 1453) and the Persian
Safavid Empire were vying for control of
Transcaucasia. They continued to do so for
over two centuries, with western Georgian
statelets generally falling under Turkish control and eastern ones under the Persians. The
Safavid Shah Abbas campaigns in eastern

GEORGIA

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38

GEORGIA History

Georgia in the early 17th century were particularly savage. In 1744 a new Persian conqueror, Nader Shah, installed local Bagratid
princes as kings of Kartli and Kakheti. One
of them, Erekle II, ruled both kingdoms as a
semi-independent state from 1762.

Russian Rule
Russian troops crossed the Caucasus for the
first time in 1770 to assist Imeretis liberation
from the Turks. At the Treaty of Georgievsk
in 1783, Erekle II accepted Christian Russian
suzerainty in return for protection against his
Muslim enemies. Russia went on to annex
all the Georgian kingdoms and princedoms
one by one during the 19th century, replacing the local or Turkish rulers with its own
military governors.
In the wake of the Russian Revolution,
Georgia was briefly independent from 1918
to 1921, but it was invaded by the Red Army
and incorporated into the Soviet Union in
1922. During the 1930s, like everywhere else
in the USSR, Georgia suffered from the Great
Terror unleashed by Joseph Stalin, a cobblers
son from the Georgian town of Gori who
had ingeniously taken control of the largest
country on earth.
Following Stalins death in 1953, Georgia
began to enjoy a good quality of life the
1960s and 70s are looked back upon with nostalgia by older Georgians as a time of public
order, peace and high living standards. Yet by
the mid-1980s Mikhail Gorbachev began his
policies of reform and the USSR disintegrated
in just seven years.

Independence: From Dream

to Nightmare
Georgias bubbling independence movement
became an unstoppable force after Soviet
troops massacred 20 hunger strikers outside
a government building in Tbilisi on 9 April
1989. Georgias now anti-Communist government, led by the nationalist intellectual Zviad
Gamsakhurdia, declared Georgia independent
of the USSR on 9 April 1991. Almost immediately the country descended into chaos. Heavy
street fighting overtook Tbilisi in December
1991 as rebel paramilitary forces battled in the
city centre to overthrow Gamsakhurdia. He
fled to Chechnya and was replaced by a military council, which gained an international
respectability when Eduard Shevardnadze
agreed to lead it. Shevardnadze had been First

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Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party

from 1972 to 1985, and Soviet Foreign Minister
under Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985 to 1991.
He was elected chairman of the parliament
and head of state on 11 October 1992.
Shevardnadzes presence did wonders for
Georgias reputation abroad, but at home,
devastating internal conflicts continued
to worsen. A truce in June 1992 halted the
conflict that had beset the region of South
Ossetia since it had declared its unification
with North Ossetia (in Russia) in 1989. But
in August 1992 an even more serious conflict
erupted in Abkhazia. For more details about
this bitter ethnic war, see p87.
In September 1993 Georgia suffered a
comprehensive defeat in Abkhazia, and
Gamsakhurdia tried to recapture power
from Shevardnadze. A short but bloody civil
war in western Georgia was only ended by
Shevardnadzes quick negotiation of support
from Russian troops already in the country.
Gamsakhurdia died on 31 December 1993,
possibly by his own hand. The second major
consequence of the defeat in Abkhazia was
the enforced displacement of approximately
250,000 Georgians from their homes there a
desperate humanitarian and economic burden
for a country whose economy was already on
the brink of collapse.

The Rose Revolution

For a decade after the Abkhazia debacle,
Georgia oscillated between periods of relative
peace and security and terrible crime waves,
gang warfare, kidnappings, infrastructure collapse and rampant corruption. Shevardnadze
at least staved off a total collapse into anarchy,
but by the early years of the 21st century, with
corruption rampant and economic progress
slow, Georgians had lost all faith in him.
Badly flawed parliamentary elections in
November 2003 were the focus for a mass
protest movement that turned into a bloodless coup, named the Rose Revolution
after the flowers carried by the demonstrators. As the highly suspect election results
were announced, protestors outside parliament in Tbilisi vowed to remain there
until Shevardnadze resigned. Led by former
Shevardnadze protg Mikheil Saakashvili,
a US-educated lawyer who now headed the
opposition Georgian National Movement,
the unarmed throng finally invaded parliament on 22 November. Humiliatingly

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bundled out of the back door by his bodyguards, Shevardnadze announced his resignation the next morning.
The 36-year-old Saakashvili won presidential elections in January 2004 by a landslide,
and set the tone for his presidency by appointing a team of young, energetic, outwardlooking ministers and announcing campaigns
against the plague of corruption. He scored
an early triumph within months of taking
power when he faced down the semiseparatist strongman of Georgias southwestern
region of Adjara, Aslan Abashidze. Just when
it seemed Georgia might be plunged into another civil war, Abashidze backed down and
left for exile in Russia.

PEOPLE
The Georgian people are one of the chief attractions of this country their traditions
of hospitality and kindness extend to everyone they meet, and until you experience a
full Georgian meal with endless courses of
sublime local cooking and lengthy toasting
ceremonies (see p46), you cant claim to have
seen the real Georgia.

The National Psyche

Georgians are irreverent, individualistic,
enterprising, good humoured and generally
high spirited pretty much the opposite
of the Russian neighbours who dominated
them for two centuries. For a good demonstration of the Georgian character, stay in a
Georgian home, where youll be treated like
a monarch and fed and watered until you
can take no more. Most Georgians are only
too delighted to talk with foreign visitors
and will go out of their way to help you and
make you feel welcome. In fact, few things
make Georgians happier than having guests
to look after.
Georgians are proud of their culture and
their country, but they identify with their
own regions as much as with Georgia as a
whole, which is something of a mishmash
of nationalities.
While some dislike the influence Russia
had over the country for two centuries,
many Georgians (especially those over 30)
speak good, often fluent Russian, are perfectly happy to talk Russian with foreigners, and find it hard to totally dismiss their
northern neighbour, having absorbed so
much of her culture.

G E O R G I A Pe o p l e

41

Daily Life
With their agricultural wealth and capitalist
instincts, Georgians lived better than anyone
else in the USSR. Despite difficulties since
independence, most Georgians still manage
to live relatively well (and a few live extremely
well). City dwellers retain roots in distant villages and will return from visits laden with
home-grown produce. Fewer Georgians live
in the drab apartment blocks widespread in
other ex-Soviet countries; many city homes
replicate rural ones, with a variety of small
dwellings set around a courtyard.
Most Georgians outside Tbilisi live in big
traditional homesteads, often housing three
or more generations of a family. Friends and
family are of vital importance and Georgians
spend copious amounts of time simply
enjoying each others company.
Georgian women generally enjoy a good
deal of freedom, holding prominent positions
in government and having a large presence in
the workplace. But this is hardly a feminist
culture most women are also still expected
to be cleaners and cooks in the home.

Population & Multiculturalism

Georgia is a cobbling together of different nationalities and regional identities some more
successfully integrated than others. In the
worst cases this has led to secession and war
(in Abkhazia and South Ossetia both areas
with languages that are unrelated to Georgian
and whose peoples would not consider
themselves Georgian). Some 250,000 ethnic
Georgians were driven out of Abkhazia during the 199293 conflict there and the great
majority of them remain internally displaced
persons today. Other areas with languages
that are part of the Georgian linguistic family,
such as Samegrelo (Mingrelia) and Svaneti,
have managed to maintain their cultural
identity without separation or conflict.
Georgia is also home to around 300,000
Azeris and 300,000 Armenians, mainly near
the Azerbaijani and Armenian borders. There
is discontent among some members of these
groups, especially Armenians, over a perceived lack of attention to their interests on
the part of the government in Tbilisi. Some
Armenians in the Javakheti area of southern
Georgia call for regional autonomy, but these
issues have not escalated into conflict.
There is still a small Russian population of
around 60,000, mainly in Tbilisi. Anti-Russian

GEORGIA

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40

GEORGIA Religion

feeling was most pronounced immediately

after independence but has surfaced again
with the recent worsening of Georgia
Russia relations.

RELIGION
The Georgian Orthodox Church has enjoyed
a big revival since the end of the Soviet era,
with old churches restored, new ones built,
and monasteries and convents repopulated
by monks and nuns. You will often notice
Georgians crossing themselves three times
when a church comes into sight. As a Christian
nation often threatened in the past by Muslim
foes, Georgians sense of nationhood is
intimately bound up with their church.
A small number of Georgians (chiefly in
Adjara, which was under Turkish rule until
the 19th century) are Muslim, as is the countrys Azeri population, while the Armenians
are mostly Armenian Apostolic Christians.
Many of the countrys age-old Jewish population emigrated after Georgian independence, but there are still working synagogues
in Tbilisi and Kutaisi.

ARTS
Georgians are an incredibly expressive people.
Music, dance, song and poetry all play big
parts in their lives.

Literature
For a little known language with only a few
million speakers, Georgian has produced an
extraordinarily rich body of literature. The national bard, Shota Rustaveli, wrote The Knight
in the Tiger Skin, a work which every Georgian
can quote from. Written in the 12th century,
this classic was not translated into English
until 1912 (by Marjory Wardrop, who learned
Georgian by comparing a Georgian bible to
an English one).
Under the Russians from the start of the
19th century, Georgian literature began to
develop with many Western influences,
particularly romanticism, as personified by
Nikoloz Baratashvili (181745). One notable 19th-century movement was known as
the Tergdaleulebi, literally meaning those
who have drunk from the Tergi River,
which flows from Georgia into Russia
the reference being to Georgians who had
studied in Russia and imbibed liberal ideas
there. This group promoted public, educational and political reform in Georgia, and

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its leading lights were Ilia Chavchavadze and

Akaki Tsereteli.
Some Georgian writers in the second half
of the 19th century turned to their countrys mountains for inspiration. The most
prominent were Alexander Kazbegi, novelist
and dramatist, and Vazha Pshavela, whom
many consider the greatest Georgian poet
after Rustaveli.
The principal poetic movement of the
early 20th century was the symbolist Blue
Horn group, whose most famous members,
Titsian Tabidze and Paolo Iashvili, both met
tragic ends. Tabidze was arrested and shot in
the purges of 1937, and Iashvili killed himself at a Union of Writers meeting when he
heard the news of Tabidzes death. Perhaps
the best-loved poet of the 20th century was
Titsian Tabidzes cousin Galaktion Tabidze
(18921959), a superbly lyrical writer who
also committed suicide.
Leading contemporary authors writing in
Georgian include novelist Aka Morchiladze
and novelist, playwright and travel writer
David Turashvili. Fasil Iskander (b 1929) is
an acclaimed Abkhaz author writing in Russia
(and Russian). His novels Sandro of Chegem
and The House Under the Cypress Tree are set
in western Georgia and Abkhazia.

Cinema
Georgia was one of the first provinces of the
old Russian Empire where a film studio was
established, and cinema production is still a
strong feature of Georgias cultural life. Tbilisi
stages a big annual international film festival
(see p60).
Many Georgians consider Sergo Zakariadze
(190971) to have been their countrys greatest
film actor, especially for his famous role as an
ageing peasant searching for his soldier son in
Father of a Soldier (1964). Tengiz Abuladzes
Monanieba (Repentance) was ground-breaking
in opening up the Soviet past a black portrait of a dictator clearly based on Stalins
Georgian henchman Lavrenty Beria, it won
the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1987.
The Georgian directors with most international recognition today tend to be expats based in France. Otar Iosseliani, who
has lived in France since 1982, had international success with Favourites of the Moon
in the 1980s. Monday Morning (2002) and
Farewell, Home Sweet Home (1999) were
both filmed in France, although they retain

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a strong Georgian identity. Julie Bertucellis

Since Otar Left (2003) is a clever tale of three
generations of women sharing a Tbilisi flat,
while Gela Babluani directed the scary thriller
Legacy (2007), focused on a blood feud in the
Georgian countryside.
One of the best recent films spawned by
Georgia (albeit not Georgian-made) is Paul
Devlins 2003 documentary Power Trip, about
an American companys struggle to provide
paid-for electricity in post-Soviet Tbilisi, with
all the culture clashes this involves.

Music & Dance

Live music is always close at hand in Georgia.
Many homes have a piano and someone ready
to play on request, and dinners are often
extended by polyphonic singing round the
table. Georgian three-voiced polyphonic folk
music was mentioned by the Greek historian
Xenophon as long ago as 400 BC. It used to
accompany every aspect of daily life, and the
songs have survived in various genres: supruli
(songs for the table, the most famous being
Mravalzhamier, which means Many Years),
mushuri (working songs), satrpialo (love
songs) and sagmiro (epic songs). Georgian
folk festivals, such as Tbilisis Art Gene
Festival (p60) and Svanetis Kviroba festival
in July, are great opportunities to hear the best
rural singers, as is the October grape harvest
season in Kakheti.
Sagalobeli (beautiful church chants) have
been part of Georgian music for at least
1500 years and are enjoying a revival and
renewal today. Excellent choirs accompany
many church services around Tbilisi, usually at 4pm on Saturday and 9am on Sunday,
including at the Anchiskhati Basilica (p53),
Sioni Cathedral (p53) and Mamadaviti
Church (p58).
Georgias exciting traditions of folk dance
range from lyrical love stories to dramatic,
leaping demonstrations of male agility, usually with beautiful costumes and to the accompaniment of string and wind instruments
and drums. Top professional groups such as
Erisioni and the Sukhishvili Georgian National
Ballet are often touring overseas, but dont
miss them if they happen to be performing
at home.
Jazz too is highly popular in Georgia
(Tbilisi and Batumi host annual festivals),
while minimal techno is the optimal beat for
many Tbilisi clubbers. The most beloved rock

GEORGIA Ar ts

43

artist is still Irakli Charkviani, even though

he died in 2006. Georgias first major classical composer was the opera writer Zakaria
Paliashvili, famous for Abesalom and Eteri
(1919) and Daisi (1923). The most famed contemporary composer is Gia Kancheli, born in
1935 and now living in Antwerp. His works
are informed by his devout Orthodox faith,
and he has been described as turning the
sounds of silence into music.

Theatre
Tbilisi boasts an amazingly lively theatrical
scene for a city of its size.
Four directors have dominated Georgian
theatre since the early 20th century: Kote
Marjanishvili and Sandro Akhmeteli in the
1920s and 30s, and Misha Tumanishvili and
Robert Sturua since the 1970s. Marjanishvili
and Akhmeteli were both denounced for antiSoviet activities, and while Marjanishvili died
of natural causes in 1933, Akhmeteli was shot
in 1937 by the Soviet regime.
With these two men began Georgias
love affair with Shakespeare, continued by
Tumanishvili and Sturua. Sturuas Richard
III (1980) and The Caucasian Chalk Circle
(1975) daringly burlesqued dictatorial regimes and won critical acclaim throughout
the world, as did his 1986 London production of Hamlet starring Alan Rickman. He is
still director of Tbilisis Rustaveli National
Theatre, where he has staged 17 different
Shakespeare plays.

Visual Arts
Many Georgian churches are adorned with
wonderful old frescoes. The golden age of
religious art in Georgia was the 11th to 13th
centuries, when Georgian painters employed
the fully developed Byzantine iconographic
system and also portrayed local subjects such
as Georgian monarchs and saints. There were
two main fresco schools: one at Davit Gareja
cave monastery and the other at the monasteries of Tao-Klarjeti (now in Turkey). During
the same period artists and metalsmiths were
creating beautiful icons from jewels and
precious metals that remain among the countrys greatest treasures today.
Perhaps the last major artist in the tradition
of fresco painting was one who painted not
religious images in churches but scenes
of everyday life in restaurants and bars in
Tbilisi. Self-taught, and in his lifetime largely

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

42

GEORGIA Environment

unrecognised, Niko Pirosmani (18621918)

expressed the essential spirit of Georgian
life in a direct and enchanting way. After
his death in poverty and obscurity, his work
was acclaimed by the modernists, foremost
among whom were Davit Kakabadze, Lado
Gudiashvili and Shalva Kikodze. All three
lived for a time in Paris in the early 20th century, influenced by the radical artistic ideas
they encountered there. Their associate Elene
Akhvlediani (190176) painted colourful
scenes of old Tbilisi and Georgian historic
sites that still have a lot of appeal. Today
Tbilisi has a burgeoning gallery scene with
much colourful though not fantastically
original art.

Architecture
Georgian church architecture is one of the
most distinctive features of the landscape
and a highlight of the country not least
because of Georgians talent for placing
their sacred buildings in the most scenically
sublime locations.
Early churches took two main forms:
the basilica and the central-domed church.
Roman-influenced basilicas were rectangular
in plan and divided into three parallel sections. In three-aisled basilicas (such as the
6th-century Anchiskhati in Tbilisi) the three
parts were separated by arcades. In triplechurch basilicas, such as the two at Nekresi,
the three parts were divided by solid walls and
each had its own barrel vault.
Most central-domed churches had an
equal-armed, cross-shaped ground plan,
with the dome sitting on a cylindrical stone
drum rising above the central space. In the
tetraconch variety, each arm of the cross
has an apse (semicircular end), and the cross
may have its angles filled with corner rooms
to result in a square building. The Jvari
Church near Mtskheta, built about 600, is a
classic tetraconch, and served as the model
for Ateni Sioni, Dzveli Shuamta and other
early churches.
A fusion of the basilical and central-domed
forms yielded the elongated-cross church of
Georgias golden age from the 11th to 13th
centuries, with a drum and pointed dome rising above the meeting of the crosss arms. Such
are the beautiful tall Alaverdi, Svetitskhoveli
(Mtskheta) and Bagrati (Kutaisi) cathedrals.
Invasions put a stop to much monumental building from the 13th to 18th centuries,

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although the frequent danger of attack did

inspire the picturesque, tall defensive towers that characterise Svaneti and other high
Caucasus valleys. Some Persian style is evident in the many balconies and galleries that
still adorn houses in the Old Town of Tbilisi
and elsewhere.
The 19th and early 20th centuries saw
Georgia putting its own quirky twist on
styles brought by the Russians, including
neoclassicism in Tbilisi and Art Nouveau in
Batumi. Contemporary architecture since
the fall of Soviet power has focused partly on
the building of new churches in modern
materials but traditional forms, most notably Tbilisis mammoth Tsminda Sameba
Cathedral but also on Western-influenced
prestige projects like new luxury hotels and
shopping centres, and Tbilisis eye-catching
new presidential palace.

ENVIRONMENT
From the snowy heights and alpine meadows of the Caucasus to the semitropical coast
of Adjara and the semidesert border with
Azerbaijan, Georgia has a fantastically diverse
ecological make-up and is a nature lovers delight. Flora and fauna are particularly diverse
in the Caucasus, where wildlife includes bears,
wolves, boars, deer, lynx and the two species of
Caucasian tur (ibex). Jackals occur all over the
lower-lying parts of the country. Georgia also
supports 360 recorded bird species, including
11 types of eagle and four vultures, and over
4000 plant species (300 endemic to Georgia).
The Caucasus is connected to the Lesser
Caucasus ranges of southern Georgia by
the Likhi Range, which youll cross between
Khashuri and Kutaisi on the M1 highway.
This forms a barrier between wetter, more
lushly vegetated western Georgia and the drier
east. Georgias main river, the Mtkvari (or
Kura), rises in northeast Turkey and flows
through Borjomi, Gori and Tbilisi and on into
Azerbaijan, where it enters the Caspian Sea.
Environmental protection has moved forward since Georgia passed its 1996 Law on
the System of Protected Areas, and 6.6% of
national territory is now under protection of
varying levels, including five national parks.
Sustainable tourism is seen as an important
support for protected areas, and wellorganised visitor facilities are in place at places
such as Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park
(p118), Kolkheti National Park (p84) and the

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GEORGIA Food & Drink

45

KNOW YOUR KHACHAPURI

An excess of these is not the thing for slimmers, but Georgias ubiquitous cheese pies are the
perfect keep-me-going small meal, as well as playing a part in many a feast. Different regions
have their own varieties, but youll find many of them all around the country:
khachapuri Acharuli The Adjaran variety is a large, boat-shaped calorie injection, overflowing
with melted cheese and topped with butter and a runny egg.
khachapuri Imeruli Relatively sedate, these round, flat pies have melted cheese inside only.
khachapuri Megruli Round, with cheese in the middle and more cheese melted on top.
khachapuri penovani Square and neatly folded into four quarters, with the cheese inside the
lightish crust particularly tasty!
khachapuri achma This large variety arranges its bread and cheese in layers, lasagne-style.
kubdari Not really a khachapuri, since it has a minced-meat filling, but it looks like one and
does the same job!
lobiani Same story but this time with beans inside.

Lagodekhi Nature Reserve (p115). Theres

useful information about protected areas on
the website of the Department of Protected Areas
(www.dpa. gov.ge).

FOOD & DRINK

One of the best reasons to visit Georgia is for
its food diverse, fresh, imaginative and filling, its a joy and, to Georgians, one of the most
important aspects of the national culture.

Staples & Specialities

The great staple for everybody, travellers and
locals, is the khachapuri, essentially a cheese
pie (see above).
The second most common dish in Georgia
is khinkali (meat dumplings). These are usually served without any accompaniment, but
they are delicious. You are not supposed to
eat the doughy nexus at the top of the dumpling, though this being Georgia, a few people
do. Its virtually impossible to order fewer
than five of these at a time, even though they
are quite substantial.
More substantial Georgian dishes typically involve lamb, chicken, beef or turkey
in various spicy, herby sauces or stews see
our Menu Decoder (p46) for an explanation
of the most popular dishes.

Drinks
More than anything, Georgians love to drink,
and wine is a passion, particularly in Kakheti,
where you will no doubt taste the unique
homemade white wine made by fermenting
the grape on the grape skin a process used

only for red wine in the West. The pinkish result is a fine drop that tastes nothing
like normal white wine. Most commercially
marketed Georgian wine tends to be sweet
to Western taste buds, although the Saperavi
grape is reliably crisp and plummy.
Vodka is a common drink throughout the
country, but trying the national firewater,
chacha, is a real experience.
The two commonest Georgian beers
are Kazbegi and Natakhtari. Natakhtari is
smoother and creamier than the slightly
acidic Kazbegi.
Georgias favourite nonalcoholic drink is
Borjomi, a salty mineral water which was
the beverage of choice for every Soviet leader
from Lenin on. It polarises opinion, and is
certainly an acquired taste. Nabeghlavi is a
less salty alternative. Georgians often claim
that tap water is safe to drink throughout the
country, a boast that is hard to verify. If you
prefer bottled water, Borjomi Springs is a fine
thirst-quencher: its neither carbonated nor
salty, although it can be hard to find outside
big towns.

Where to Eat & Drink

Georgians eat and drink at all times of the
day, and restaurants tend to keep suitably
long hours, typically noon to midnight (exceptions to this are noted in individual reviews). Breakfast can be the trickiest meal
to get outside your accommodation. While
some places may serve up eggs, bread and
tea early in the morning, others will offer
only khachapuri.

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

44

GEORGIA Food & Drink

Outside Tbilisi, restaurants are almost universally cheap it is rare for a Georgian dish
to cost more than 5 GEL or 6 GEL, while a
full slap-up feast will rarely be more than 20
GEL per person.
Tbilisi has the best selection and variety of
restaurants, but eateries around the country
have improved a lot. The surly Soviet service
ethic is dead and buried, and while Russian
fare remains a popular alternative to Georgian
dishes, more restaurants now display an openness to other foreign cuisines. For Georgian
regional food, some of the best youll eat will
be offered in homestays and guesthouses.
At the bottom of the Georgian food chain
are the sakhachapure and the sakhinkle, cheap
workers cafs where khachapuri or khinkali
are literally the only thing served. Cafs tend
to serve sweet dishes Georgians make some
excellent pastries and cakes for those with a
sweet tooth.
Some better-quality Georgian restaurants
are really party places, where people go for
loud music, dancing and lots of drinking as
well as eating. These can be lots of fun if youre
in company, but not very pleasant for the
single traveller or even some couples. Staff will
do their best to make everybody feel at ease,
but if places like this are your only option, its
a good idea to eat early, before the place fills
up with revellers.

Vegetarians & Vegans

Vegetarians will fare well in Georgia.
Khachapuri, badrijani nigvzit (aubergine
with walnut paste), pkhali (crushed walnuts
and garlic with spinach or beetroot paste)
and lobio (bean paste or stew with herbs and
spices) are all standard fare, and breakfast
will often provide matsoni (Georgian sour
yogurt drink) or perhaps bread with cheese
or honey. Vegans will find things harder, as
much Georgian food involves some sort of
milk product.

Habits & Customs

If you are lucky enough to be invited to a supra
(feast literally tablecloth), youll need to
understand the basic etiquette of these festive
events. While strictly speaking the word supra
applies to any meeting where food and drink
are consumed, its likely that foreign guests
will experience the full works, which usually
means staggering amounts to eat and drink.
A selection of cold dishes will be followed by

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two or three hot courses as well as some kind

of dessert. Make sure you try everything, as
much to temper the onslaught of concomitant
alcohol as to keep your hosts happy.
Bear in mind that Georgians toast only
their enemies with beer wine or spirits are
the only drinks to toast your friends with.
However, you should only drink when someone proposes a toast. This can be a surprisingly serious, lengthy and poetic matter, even
at small gatherings of three or four friends.
Larger gatherings will have a designated tamada (toastmaster), and some complex supras
will involve an alaverdi, a second man whose
role it is to elaborate on the toast, while a
merikipe is there to pour the wine. If you are
toasted, do not reply immediately but wait
for others to add their wishes before simply
thanking them you should wait some time
and then ask the tamada if you can make a
toast in reply.

Eat Your Words

Georgian menus often look daunting, even if
theres an English translation available, but
youll find that the following list explains a
large proportion of most menus.
MENU DECODER

ajapsandali spicy vegetable mixture

ajika chilli sauce
apkhazura spicy meatballs
asetrina sturgeon
badrijani aubergine (usually with walnuts and garlic)
bazhe walnut sauce
chakapuli lamb with tarragon and plums
chakhokhbili chicken or turkey in tomato sauce
chanakhi lamb with potatoes, aubergine and tomatoes
chebureki triangular pies stuffed with minced meat
chikhirtma chicken broth with a leg of chicken
floating in it

churchkhela string of nuts coated in a sort of caramel

made from grape juice and flour
ghomi maize porridge
kababi doner kebabs
khachapuri cheese pie
kharcho soup with rice, beef and spices
khashi tripe and garlic soup
khinkali spicy meat dumplings
kuchmachi chopped, seasoned and simmered offal
(of chicken, calf or lamb)
kupati sausage
lobio bean paste or stew with herbs and spices
matsnis supi yogurt soup
matsoni sour yogurt drink usually consumed at breakfast

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mchadi corn-flour bread

mtsvadi ghoris/khbos pork/beef shashlyk
mzhavi pickled vegetables
ojakhuri meat with potatoes, onion and garlic
pkhali beetroot, spinach or cabbage paste with crushed
walnuts and garlic

plovi rice with meat, mushrooms or fruit

satsivi cold turkey or chicken in a spicy walnut sauce,
traditionally a New Year dish
shkmeruli chicken in garlic sauce
sulguni smoked cheese
tqemali plum sauce
tskhotskali boiled river fish, served cold
tvini brains, usually beef

TBILISI
%32 (international), %22 (domestic) / pop 1.7
million

Almost 10 times the size of any other city

in Georgia, Tbilisi is where it all happens.
Politically, culturally, economically and socially, this is the hub of the country and the
place to which Georgians gravitate for action and excitement. Capital of Georgia (in
its various incarnations) almost continually
since the 5th century, Tbilisi brims with history and has a dramatic setting on hillsides
either side of the swift Mtkvari River. Its Old
Town, at the narrowest part of the valley, is
still redolent of an ancient Eurasian crossroads, with narrow, winding alleys, handsome religious buildings, and old balconied
houses and caravanserais (travellers inns).
Tbilisi is also a modern city moving forward in the 21st century after the strife and
stagnation of the late 20th. There is a wide
and growing array of good accommodation
GEORGIAN STREET NAMES
The spelling of Georgian street names varies
slightly, depending on whether words such
as qucha (street), gamziri (avenue), moedani (square) or chikhi (lane) are present.
In Georgian, Sioni Street is Sionis qucha
(Street of Sioni). To simplify matters, we use
noninflected names alone in addresses
for example Sioni 23 rather than Sionis
qucha 23. Only when there is more than
one street with the same name (for example
Chavchavadzis qucha and Chavchavadzis
gamziri) have we included the full name
for clarity.

TBILISI History

47

and places to eat, and a busy cultural scene

and nightlife. Prestigious new building
projects from a new presidential palace to
five-star hotels, shopping malls and leisure
facilities are giving Tbilisi a new dimension,
although little money is steered towards the
working-class neighbourhoods (or the chaotic
and dirty bus stations). The most attractive of
the three Caucasian capitals, Tbilisi is still the
beating heart of the Caucasus and should not
be missed by any visitor.

HISTORY
Despite evidence of settlement in the area
stretching back to the 4th century BC,
Georgians prefer the legend that King
Vakhtang Gorgasali of Kartli founded Tbilisi
in the 5th century. The story runs that when
the king was hunting, a pheasant fell into
a hot sulphur spring and was conveniently
cooked for dinner. Another version has it
that a wounded deer fell into the hot sulphur
spring and was miraculously healed. Either
way, Tbilisi takes its name from the Georgian
tbili (warm), and there seems little doubt that
the magnificent hot springs, which still lure
visitors today, attracted the king to the spot.
In fact Gorgasali won the town back from
the Persians, who had invaded in 368, and
moved his capital here from Mtskheta in the
late 5th century. His son King Dachi completed its construction after his fathers death.
But in 645 the Arabs captured Tbilisi and kept
it as an emirate for four centuries.
In 1122 the Georgian King David the
Builder (Davit Aghmashenebeli) took Tbilisi
and made it capital of a united Georgia, building a palace near the Metekhi Church. Under
David and his descendant Queen Tamar,
Georgia enjoyed its medieval golden age and
Tbilisi developed into a multiethnic city of
80,000 people, known for its production of
weapons, jewellery, leather and silk clothing.
The golden age was ended with a vengeance
by the arrival of the Mongols in 1235, followed
in turn by the Black Death, then conqueror
Timur (Tamerlane), who destroyed the city in
1386, and the Persians, who captured Tbilisi
twice in the 1540s.
Tbilisi made some cultural progress under
the Persians during the 17th and 18th centuries, and in 1762, as Persian control waned,
the city became capital of a united eastern
Georgia under King Erekle II. Erekles protector Russia, however, withdrew its troops

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

46

TBILISI Central Tbilisi

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0
0

CENTRAL TBILISI
To Didube Bus
Station (3km)

Saakadzis
moedani

TBILISI Orientation

400 m
0.3 miles

To Europark
(2.5km)

Borjomi
Station

a
en
rjv i ro
Maanap
S

Dinamo
Stadium

Vagzlis
moedani

Mushtaidi
Garden

87

quc
nis
adia
eD

Politeknikuri

tn
Tso

Vagzlis Main
moedani Train
Station
7

ha

pis
Me
ar ziri
Tamgam

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1

70

na
se
Ar

ma
s ag

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qu
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moedani
Narikala
Fortress

21

34

qu

ch

Avlabari

Chekhovis 22
qucha
45
44

ha

Old
Town
im
Ierusal

s qucha
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Mesk

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moedani

Tavisuplebis Lesel
iz
moedani
is

31

Ba

Shavtelis qucha

idzis
kash
Na qucha

80

Sololaki
Asatianis qucha

Sa
n
6

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s ad
Abqeucha

qucha

na

Orbelianis
moedani
s qucha
Baratashvili

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79 Revolutsis
moedani

86
36

28
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quch
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Rustavelis
moedani
73

27

uch

sq

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a
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200 m
0.1 miles

55

89

Lermontovis qucha
40

Ekaladzis
qucha
69

72

23
17

Ing

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ch ha
Kiaquc nis
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0
0

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ha
quc
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65
57

Zanduke Rustaveli
li s q
Barnovis
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a
qucha

84
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q

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92

9 Aprilis
Park

51

cha
qu
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Ap
Moedani
9
90

Funiculayr
Railwa

67

h
quc

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dia cha
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25

Mtatsminda
Park

78
Ko
sta 68
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qu

88
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tur
an ha
Ch quc

77

is
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47

75

54
11

30
29

Vashlovani
qucha

82
is

iro
ap

See Western Tbilisi Map (p56)

81

Rustavelis
76 gamziri

z
ad
av
ch a
av uch
Ch q

ro

58

lis
ne a
Ato uch
q

38

Mtatsminda

TV
Tower

Sana
pi

Laghidzis
qucha

66

71
15

bi
ile
hv a
la s c h
ba qu

56
Zu

D z m e bi
35

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Ka

en a

19

Avlabari
Ketevan
Tsamebulis
moedani
Ke
tev
85
an
R
Tsa
u
i
s
i
s
q
uch a
41
4 meb
46
uli
300 Aragveli
s
Mtkvar
ga
i R
Gorgasa
mz
To Airport
lis qucha
iver
iri
(14km);
62
Lilo Market
Tunnel
(15km)

Botanical
Gardens
See Tbilisi - Old Town Map (p54)

26
Metekhis
aghmarti
20

v is q
u c ha

ba

18
kh

Tel
a

ee
bis

14

dz

qu39
cha
Makashvilis
qucha

Svanetisubani
Ma
rts

qu
ch
a

Be
lin
sk
is

vilis

10

Vardebis
Revolutsis
moedani

Rustaveli
uc
Barnovis q ha

43

ash

Ko
sta
va
s

ha
uc

52

geb

qu

16
64

See Enlargement

Vere

Sar
a
qu jishv
cha ilis

Tark
h
qucnishvil
ha is

33
60

vilis

ish

rjan

Go
nas
hvi
li s

74

Ma

ki

Vere
Park

Russian
Church

Marjanishvili 13
cha

Urits

12

37

a
quch
vas
oba
Chik

Ghambashidzis
qucha
Melik
ishvi
lis q
u ch
a
59

48

Me
quctekh
ha i s

Varaz
iskhe
vis
qu
ch
a

Anjaparidzis
qucha

Go

Tetelashvilis
qucha
50
9

63

qucha

24

ias
Chita

cha

42

ha
cha
quc
qu
a
vilis
ilis
osh
uch
shv
Nin
sq
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v ili
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md
a kh
na
Ja v
Tsi

qu

Gmirta
moedani

49

ziri

is
adz

53

gam

Uz n

Vera

qucha

Tunnel

Pushkinis

ch

neb

qu

e
ash

v as

hm

sta

Ag

Ko

vit

Da

91

To Ortachala Bus
Station (2km)

49

to fight the Turks, allowing Agha Mohamed

Khan to inflict Persias last and most devastating assault on Tbilisi in 1795. His army killed
tens of thousands and burnt the city to the
ground; few buildings today predate 1795 in
any substantial form. Russia annexed Georgia
in 1800 and proceeded to recreate Tbilisi in
the imperial mould, laying out wide streets
and squares such as Rustavelis gamziri and
Tavisuplebis moedani, and building libraries,
schools and theatres. By the late 19th century, Tbilisi had a population of 159,000, the
majority of them Russian or Armenian.
While the Soviet era saw huge growth
and relative prosperity (the citys population passed one million in the 1970s), Tbilisi
became a centre of resistance to the late Soviet
regime, culminating in troops killing 20 hunger strikers outside the government building on Rustaveli on 9 April 1989. Georgias
parliament declared Georgian independence
from the USSR in the same building exactly
two years later. Rebellion against the government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia then erupted
in fierce fighting on the citys streets in
December 1991, destroying several central
landmark buildings.
The following years were dark ones.
Although gun-toting gangsters ceased to
rule the roost, the economy nosedived, and
in 1993 Tbilisi had to find room for thousands
of Georgian refugees fleeing from Abkhazia.
While a few people got very rich in the 1990s,
general living standards sank, corruption and
crime were endemic, and frequent power cuts
blacked out the city.
In the Rose Revolution of November
2003, protesting crowds again filled central
Tbilisi and finally poured into the parliament building to drive out President Eduard
Shevardnadze. Since then, corruption has
been reduced, Tbilisi has enjoyed a new flood
of foreign aid and investment, the city centre
is being refurbished, and tourism is bouncing back. Though prosperity has yet to trickle
down to many of the general populace, Tbilisi
has more confidence, energy and optimism
than for many a year.

ORIENTATION
Tbilisi is centred on the Mtkvari River, which
runs through the middle of it roughly northwest to southeast. The old city lies on the
right (west) bank where the valley narrows to
a gorge, below Narikala Fortress. Tavisuplebis

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

48

TBILISI Information

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INFORMATION
Armenian Embassy..................... 1 C3
Beeline........................................2 C5
British Embassy.......................(see 36)
Chinese Embassy........................ 3 A4
Dutch Embassy.......................(see 85)
Fedex..........................................4 F6
French Embassy.......................... 5 A4
Geoland..................................... 6 D5
German Consulate.......................7 B1
German Embasy.....................(see 85)
IMSS...........................................8 B4
Internet Caf..............................9 C3
Israeli Embassy..........................10 C3
Java Cyber Caf....................... 11 C4
Magti........................................12 B3
PMG Pharmacy.........................13 C3
Post Office & Call Centre.......... 14 C4
Prospero's Books...................... 15 C4
TBC Bank & ATM..................... 16 C3
TBC Bank ATM.......................(see 51)
TBC Bank ATM......................... 17 C5
Telephone Centre..................... 18 C4
Wild Georgia............................ 19 D4

Tsminda Sameba
Cathedral..............................34 E5
SLEEPING
Betsy's Hotel.............................35
Courtyard by Marriott.............. 36
Dodo's Homestay..................... 37
Hotel Beaumonde.....................38
Hotel British House................... 39
Hotel David.............................. 40
Hotel GTM................................41
Hotel Iliani................................42
Hotel Kartli............................... 43
Hotel Kopala.............................44
Hotel Lile...................................45
Hotel Old Metekhi....................46
Hotel Tori................................. 47
Irine Japaridzes Boarding
House...................................48
Khatuna's Homestay................. 49
Nasi Gvetadze's
Homestay............................. 50
Tbilisi Marriott Hotel................. 51
Vere Inn................................... 52

SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES

Abanotubani.............................20 E6
Business Centre........................ 21 C6
Echmiadzin Cathedral................22 E6
Kashveti Church....................... 23 C5
King Vakhtang statue.............(see 26)
Laguna Vere Pool......................24 B3
Mamadaviti Church..................25 B5
Metekhi Church........................26 E6
Museum of Georgia.................. 27 C5
Museum of Money................... 28 C5
National Pantheon....................29 B5
Parliament................................ 30 C5
Presidential palace.....................31 E5
School No 1.............................. 32 C5
State Concert Hall
(Philharmonia).......................33 B3

EATING
Ankara...................................... 53 C2
Cafe Nikala............................... 54 C4
Caravan.................................... 55 C5
Chocolate................................. 56 C4
Csaba's Jazz-Rock Caf.............57 A6
Dzveli Metekhi........................(see 46)
Dzveli Sakhli............................. 58 C4
El Depo.....................................59 A3
Hotel Kopala...........................(see 44)
Kafe Literaturuli........................60 A3
La Brasserie.............................(see 36)
Populi....................................... 61 D5
Puris Sakhli................................62 E6
Sachashnike.............................. 63 C3
Shemoikhede Genatsvale.......... 64 C3
Tokyo.......................................65 A6

moedani (Freedom Sq) marks the northwest

edge of the Old Town. Rustavelis gamziri
(Rustaveli Avenue), the main artery of modern central Tbilisi, runs 1.5km northwest from
Tavisuplebis moedani to Rustavelis moedani
(Rustaveli Sq).
Outside these central areas, the main districts of interest to travellers are Vere and Vake
to the northwest, with their hotels, restaurants
and some sights; and the area with budget accommodation on the east bank between the
river and the main Tbilisi train station (which
is 2km northeast of Rustavelis moedani).
The airport is 15km east of the centre,
to which its connected by train, buses and
taxis.
The two main bus stations are Didube,
4km north of the train station, and Ortachala
(for mainly international departures), 2.5km
southeast of the Old Town. A metro system

B4
C5
D3
B4
A4
C6
E6
A3
A4
E6
E6
E6
C4
C3
D2
C3
C5
A4

DRINKING
Acid Bar.................................... 66
Dublin.......................................67
Le Caf.....................................68
Nali...........................................69
Near Opera.............................. 70
ENTERTAINMENT
Blues Brothers........................... 71
Jazz Club Non Stop...................72
Kino Sakhli................................73
Marjanishvili Theatre................ 74
Nabadi Theatre......................... 75
Paliashvili Opera & Ballet
Theatre................................. 76
Rustaveli National Theatre........ 77
Success.....................................78
Switch.......................................79
Traffic....................................... 80

C4
B6
A6
B6
C4

C4
B6
B6
C3
C4
C4
C4
A6
B6
C6

SHOPPING
Dry Bridge market.................... 81 D4
Gallery Artgasm......................(see 15)
Georgian Souvenirs.................(see 11)
Old Carpets & Kilims................ 82 C4
TRANSPORT
Air Baltic................................... 83 A6
Airzena Georgian
Airways.................................84 C5
Austrian Airlines........................85 F6
Avis.......................................... 86 C5
BMI........................................(see 36)
Badagoni Tour........................(see 36)
Bus & Marshrutka Station..........87 C1
Cosmo Group........................... 88 D4
Georgian National
Airlines..................................89 C5
SCAT........................................ 90 C5
Turkish Airlines..........................91 B2
Ukraine International
Airlines..................................92 B6

links the northern and western suburbs

(including Didube and the train station) with
the centre.
Three very obvious landmarks, visible from
far and wide, are the massive new Tsminda
Sameba Cathedral high on the east side of the
city, and the silver-coloured statue of Kartlis
Deda (Mother Georgia) and the citys TV
tower, both atop hills on the western side.

INFORMATION
Bookshops
Geoland (Map pp48-9;%922553, 921494; www
.geoland.ge; Telegrapis chikhi 3; h10am-7pm or later)
Georgias best map supplier, Geoland sells Soviet military
1:50,000 sheets (the best available topographic and hiking
maps) at 5 GEL per A3 sheet, plus its own excellent 1:250,000
maps covering Georgia in six sheets (30 GEL each), and a
1:650,000 country road map (30 GEL). You can buy these
maps at the office or order by email. Geoland also plans to

lonelyplanet.com
bring out its own updated 1:50,000 trekking maps and a
Tbilisi city map, and its opening a travellers caf on site.
Prosperos Books (Map pp48-9;%923592; Rustaveli
34; h10am-9pm) This English-language bookshop and
caf has a terrific if expensive selection including lots of
titles on Georgia and the Caucasus region.

Emergency
Emergency services are contactable on the
following numbers, but operators are likely
to speak only Georgian or Russian. For petty
theft or muggings it is best to find a local
police station, which should at least provide
you with a report.
If you speak no Georgian or Russian and
have no local friends who can help you,
contact your embassy.
Ambulance (%03)
Fire (%01)
Police (%022)

Internet Access
There are internet cafs in most neighbourhoods of Tbilisi. Recommended central ones
include these:
Internet Caf (Map pp48-9; Davit Aghmashenebeli 108;
internet per hr 1 GEL; h10am-10pm) Inexpensive
basement establishment.
Java Cyber Caf (Map pp48-9;%424789; Rustaveli 18;
internet per hr 2 GEL; h10am-10pm;n) Clean, up-todate, English-speaking, nonsmoking facility.
Prosperos Books (Map pp48-9;%923592; Rustaveli
34; internet per hr 4 GEL; h10am-9pm) Two computers
in Tbilisis English-language bookshop; agreeable
atmosphere and caf service too.

Internet Resources
etbilisi.com Good listings for museums, galleries,
theatres, bars and nightclubs.
www.info-tbilisi.com Restaurant, bar, hotel and some
entertainment listings.

Laundry
Laundry (Map p56; Chavchavadzis gamziri 33a; h9am6pm Mon-Fri, to 1pm Sat) A traditional laundry, charging
around 20 GEL for a full load. Its a tiny yellow building
opposite Big Ben supermarket.
Tbisi Laundry (Map p56;%292992; Mtskheta 8;
h10am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 1pm Sat) Also does dry
cleaning.

Medical Services
Private Western-standard medical facilities, all with 24-hour emergency service,
include these:

TBILISI Information

51

Curatio (Map p56; %921592, emergency 901; www

.curatio.com; Vazha Pshavela 27B) Has English-speaking
GPs and provides home visits, in-person consultations and
free telephone consultations round the clock.
IMSS (Map pp48-9; %920928; www.imss.ge; fax 920928;
Makashvili 31) Consultations (US$80, follow-up US$40) and
24-hour Western-standard inpatient care available with
UK- or US-trained doctors. All staff speak English.
MediClubGeorgia (Map p56; %251991, emergency
899581991; www.mcg.com.ge; Chavchavadzis gamziri 5)
All doctors speak English.
Medicines are widely available at pharmacies (aptiaqi in Georgian, but often signed
Apotheka). Even if your Western brand
name is not stocked, they will usually have
a chemically identical local version. Twentyfour-hour pharmacies include these:
Aversi (Map p54; Pushkin 11)
Aversi (Map p56; Chavchavadzis gamziri 54)
PMG (Map pp48-9; Marjanishvili 33)

Money
Tbilisi is full of ATMs issuing lari on
MasterCard, Visa, Cirrus and Maestro cards.
There are also plenty of exchange offices
where you can buy lari for cash euros, US
dollars and often roubles or British pounds.
At the airport there are several ATMs and
at least two 24-hour bank branches offering
currency exchange.
Some ATMs, including those of TBC Bank
(%272727; www.tbcbank.com.ge) Marjanishvili (Map pp48-9;
Marjanishvili 7); Rustaveli cinema (Map pp48-9; Rustaveli 5); Tbilisi
Marriott Hotel (Map pp48-9; Rustaveli 13); Airport (Tbilisi airport),

will dispense US dollars as well as lari.

Post
Fedex (Map pp48-9; %911940; www.fedex.com;
Ketevan Tsamebulis gamziri 39)

Post Office (Map pp48-9; Rustaveli 31; h9am-6pm

Mon-Sat, to 3pm Sun) Useful city-centre office where you
can also make photocopies and phone calls.
TNT (Map p56; %250328; www.tnt.com; Melikishvili 41)

Telephone & Fax

Telephone Centre Rustaveli (Map pp48-9; Post Office,
Rustaveli 31; h8am-2am) Aghmashenebeli (Map pp48-9;
Post Office, Davit Aghmashenebeli 44; h9am-8pm
Mon-Sat, to 5pm Sun) Pay at the counter for national and
international calls from booths. Fax service available too.
You can buy Georgian SIM cards at many
outlets (take your passport with you). Here
are the main outlets of the three principal
mobile networks:

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

50

TBILISI Dangers & Annoyances

lonelyplanet.com

Beeline (Map pp48-9; %200611; www.georgia.beeline

.net; Rustaveli 14) In the centre.
Geocell (Map p56; %770177; www.geocell.ge; Pekin
24) In Saburtalo.
Magti (www.magti.com.ge) Centre (Map pp48-9;
%921310; Kostava 47) Vake (Map p56; %253385;
Chavchavadzis gamziri 21)

runs tours in Georgia and offers good deals on air tickets,

especially to and from North America.
Wild Georgia (Map pp48-9; %899941320; www.wild
georgia.ge; Tsinamdzghvrishvili 17) Enthusiastic agency
specialising in hiking and horse riding in Tusheti, home
town of its director, fluent-English-speaking Eka Chvritidze.

Tourist Information

Tbilisi has shaken off the very bad reputation

it once had for muggings and street violence.
We never felt endangered nor heard of any
crimes affecting foreigners while researching
this edition.
However, Western governments do warn
that travellers may still be subject to petty theft
and even assaults, urging care on the metro,
in marshrutkas (minibuses), and off the main
streets in the city centre and the Vake, Vere
and Saburtalo districts, especially after dark.
Taxis are inexpensive, so dont hesitate to take
one if youre uneasy about walking or taking
public transport.

A city-centre tourist information office (Map p54;

Tavisuplebis moedani) should be open in front of
the city hall by the time you reach Tbilisi. The
airport information office (%433141; h24 hr) can
give you basic information, such as how to
get into the city.

Travel Agencies
Good local agents can take the organisational
hassle out of any kind of activity, from a city
tour to a hiking expedition, and good guides
can open your eyes to things youd otherwise
never know.
A half-day Tbilisi city tour for up to five
people with a good agency and a guide
speaking English, German, French, Italian
or Spanish costs around US$40 to US$70
per person. Day trips out of the city can cost
from US$50 to US$120, while a four-day
guided Caucasus trip with at least some hiking is typically between US$350 and US$650
per person.
Badagoni Tour (Map pp48-9; %936243; www.badagni
tour.com; Tavisuplebis moedani 4) Badagoni specialises in
wine and food tours but also offers a range of other trips in
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Caucasus Travel (Map p54; %987400; www.cau
casustravel.com; Leselidze 44) Long-established Caucasus
Travel can set up just about any group or individual trip,
from half-day city tours to climbing awesome Ushba. Its a
very professional outfit which also books accommodation
and rents cars (its the local Hertz agent).
Explore Georgia (Map p54; %921911; www.explore
georgia.com; Chakhrukhadze 6) This young company,
headed by highly experienced mountain guide Nick
Erkomaishvili, focuses on activity-based travel, including
climbing, hiking, horse riding, bird-watching and
archaeological tours.
GeorgiCa Travel (Map p56; %252199; www.georgi
catravel.ge; Shanidze 22) Well-established, professional
GeorgiCa offers a full range of cultural and adventure
trips, and will happily construct tailor-made itineraries.
Also offers trips combining Georgia with Armenia and/or
Azerbaijan.
Levon Travel (Map p56; %250010; www.levontravel
.ge; Chavchavadzis gamziri 20) A US-based outfit, Levon

DANGERS & ANNOYANCES

SIGHTS
The Old Town, where Tbilisi began, is the
most fascinating area for exploring. Theres
also plenty to see in the Avlabari area, on the
left bank of the Mtkvari; the 19th-century
city focused on Rustaveli; and the western
suburb of Vake. Most of the many churches
that are among Tbilisis most beautiful and
interesting sights are open during daylight
hours every day.

Old Town
Tbilisi grew up below the walls of the Narikala
Fortress, which stands on the Sololaki ridge
above the west side of the Mtkvari gorge.
Today the twisting alleys of the Old Town,
which is known locally as Kala, are still full of
hidden courtyards and carved wooden balconies leaning at rakish angles. Though almost
no buildings here survived the destruction by
the Persians in 1795, many of those standing
today date from soon after that and still have
the Eurasian character of earlier times.
AROUND GORGASALIS MOEDANI

A good place to get your initial bearings

is Gorgasalis moedani, now a rather bland,
traffic-infested junction but once the setting of Tbilisis bustling bazaar. From here
the Metekhi Bridge crosses the river to the
Metekhi Church (p55), busy Gorgasalis qucha
heads off southeast along the riverbank, and

lonelyplanet.com

Leselidze and Sharden dive into the maze of

streets to the north. Sharden and parallel Bambis
rigi, along with Erekle II a little further north,
are narrow pedestrian streets lined with fashionable galleries and cafs.
Just above Gorgasalis moedani is the
large Armenian Cathedral of St George (Map pp489; Samghebro), founded in 1251 (although the
current structure dates mainly from the 18th
century). Its interior is surprisingly small but
it has interesting frescoes. King Erekle IIs
Armenian court poet Sayat Nova was killed
here during the Persian invasion of 1795 and
his tomb is in front of the main door.
The social hub of the area is further south
Tbilisis famed sulphur baths, the Abanotubani
(Map pp48-9; Abano). Alexanders Dumas and
Pushkin both bathed here, the latter describing it as the best bath hed ever had. Abano
(Bath St) is full of subterranean bathhouses
with beehive domes rising at ground level,
most dating back to the 17th century. The
most impressive, the above-ground Orbeliani
Baths (Map p54; h8am-10pm), has a Central Asian
feel to its blue-tile mosaic faade. Entry to the
male or female communal pools here costs 2
GEL, while a very invigorating massage is 5
GEL; small private rooms are 10 GEL.
A short distance uphill behind the baths
is the mosque (Map p54; Botanikuri), built in 1895
and the only mosque in Tbilisi that survived
Lavrenty Berias antireligious purges of the
1930s. Unusually, Shiite and Sunni Muslims
pray together here. The interior is prettily
frescoed and visitors are welcome to enter
(after removing shoes). At the top of this street
are Tbilisis Botanical Gardens (Map 000M02A6; Botanikuri;
admission 1 GEL; h9am-7.30pm). Its easy to wander
for two or three enjoyable hours in these extensive, waterfall-dotted gardens, which were
opened in 1845 on what had earlier been the
royal gardens.
The main thoroughfare of the Old Town
today (though sometimes traffic-clogged)
is Leselidze. Tbilisis main synagogue (Map p54;
Leselidze 47) is a very welcoming place built in
1904. A short walk further up the street is the
Jvaris Mama Church (Map p54; Ierusalimi 8), where
there has been a church since the 5th century.
The current structure dates from the 16th
century; its frescoes were recently restored in
striking reds and blues, and the atmosphere
is exquisitely pious and calm. Next door is the
disused Armenian Norasheni Church (Map p54),
dating from 1793.

TBILISI Sights

53

SIONI & SHAVTELI

In times past the Old Towns main thoroughfares and merchants areas were Sionis and
Shavtelis quchas, both now quiet pedestrian
streets, pleasant for strolling. The Tbilisi History
Museum (Map p54;%982281; www.museum.ge; Sioni 8;
admission 3 GEL; h11am-5pm Tue-Sun), housed in an
old caravanserai, includes some wonderfully
evocative photographs of pre-Soviet Tbilisi
and montages of old artisans workshops.
Next door is the Sioni Cathedral (Map p54; Sioni
6). The cathedral was originally built in the 6th
and 7th centuries, but it has been destroyed
and rebuilt so many times that it is difficult to
say which part comes from when, although
the south portico is undeniably the work of
a shabby 1990s contractor. What you see is
mainly 13th-century, though the southern
chapel was built and the cupola restored in
1657. The most important sacred object here
is the cross of St Nino which, according to
legend, is made from vine branches bound
with the saints own hair. A replica of this is
displayed to the left of the altar, with the real
thing kept safe inside. On the opposite side of
the street is a tall bell tower built in 1812, the
first example of Russian classicism in Tbilisi.
North of the Sioni Cathedral, Sionis qucha
becomes Erekle II qucha, which leads to Erekle
II moedani, site of the walled residence of the
Catholicos-Patriarch (Map p54; head of the
Georgian church) and of a leafy little park.
The large Church of the Archangels here was
destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century.
Later, three smaller churches were built from
the ruins, one of which is the Karis Eklesia, at
the north end of the park.
From here Shavteli, once the throbbing
medieval hub of the Old Town, continues
north. Here youll find the Anchiskhati Basilica
(Map p54), the oldest surviving church in
Tbilisi, built by King Gorgasalis son Dachi
in the 6th century. The name comes from
the icon of Anchi Cathedral in Klarjeti (now
in Turkey), brought here in the 17th century
and now in the Fine Arts Museum (p57). The
church is a three-nave basilica that has been
restored several times, most notably in the
17th century, when the brick pillars and upper
walls were made. In 1958 restorers found the
remains of 17th-century frescoes under the
19th-century ones. Just west of the church is
a brick bell tower and gatehouse, typical of
late-medieval eastern Georgian style. Beyond
here Shavteli leads out to busy Baratashvilis

GEORGIA

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TBILISI Old Town

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14

SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES

Anchiskhati Basilica..................... 5 C2
Armenian Cathedral of
St George................................6 D5
Church of St Nicholas.............(see 13)
City Hall..................................... 7 A3
Fine Arts Museum.......................8 A2
Jvaris Mama Church................... 9 C4
Karis Eklesia Church..................10 C2
Kartlis Deda.............................. 11 A5
Mosque.................................... 12 D6
Narikala Fortress....................... 13 D6
Norasheni Church..................... 14 C4
Orbeliani Baths......................... 15 D6

Residence of the
Catholicos-Patriarch.............. 16
Shahtakhti................................ 17
Sioni Cathedral......................... 18
Synagogue............................... 19
Tbilisi History Museum............. 20

C2
A6
C4
C4
C4

SLEEPING
Hotel Ambasadori.....................21
Hotel Charm.............................22
Hotel Dzveli Ubani....................23
Villa Mtiebi...............................24
VIP Hotel.................................. 25

C1
C2
A3
B2
C3

EATING
12 Rue Chardin........................ 26
China Town............................. 27
Kafe Lotus................................ 28
Prestige.....................................29
Sans Souci.................................30
Shemoikhede
Genatsvale.............................31

Narikala Fortress & Around

41

32

INFORMATION
Aversi......................................... 1 A2
Caucasus Travel......................... 2 D4
Explore Georgia...........................3 B2
Ministry of Culture......................4 C1
Tourist Information
Office...................................(see 7)

TBILISI Sights

qucha, running alongside the north wall of

the Old Town.

dzis

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Erekle II quch

Tavisuplebis
moedani

Mtkvari River

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Botanical
Gardens

15
12

Dominating the city skyline (until the TV tower

came along, anyway), Narikala Fortress (Map p54;
Chidini; admission free; h9am-9pm) is an ancient symbol of Tbilisis defensive brilliance. The most
direct way up to it is to follow the street beside
the Armenian Cathedral of St George (p53).
The fortress walls date from various periods,
the earliest from the 4th century, when it was
a Persian citadel. The foundations of the towers and most of the present walls were built
in the 8th century by the Arab emirs, whose
palace was inside the fortress. Subsequently
Georgians, Turks and Persians captured and
patched up Narikala, but in 1827 a huge explosion of the Russian munitions stored here
ruined not only the fortress but also the Church
of St Nicholas inside it. The church was rebuilt
in the 1990s with the help of funding from a
police chief. There are superb views over Tbilisi
from the top of the fortress.
From outside the fortress entrance, you
can follow a path west in front of the walls
along to the statue of Kartlis Deda (Mother
Georgia; map p54). As attractive as a 20m
aluminium woman can be, this symbol of
the city holds a sword in one hand and a cup
of wine in the other a perfect metaphor for
the Georgian character, warmly welcoming
guests and passionately fighting off enemies.
Beyond Mother Georgia you pass the ruins
of the Shahtakhti (Shahs Throne) fortress (Map
p54), which housed an Arab observatory, and
then a modernistic complex that looks like

55

Teremok................................... 32 A4

C4
D4
A2
B3
C1
B3

DRINKING
Caf Kala.................................. 33
Chardin Bar.............................. 34
Hangar Bar............................... 35
Moulin Electrique...................... 36

C3
C4
C2
C3

ENTERTAINMENT
Maidan's Club.......................... 37
Night Office..............................38
Tunnel Club.............................. 39
Two-Side.................................. 40

D4
C1
A5
C4

SHOPPING
Carpet Shop..............................41
Dom Vina................................. 42
Green Sun Souvenirs................. 43
Meidan 91................................ 44

B3
C4
C3
D5

TRANSPORT
Hertz........................................(see 2)

a space station but is actually a new business

centre (Map pp489) built by the GeorgianRussian multi-billionaire Boris Ivanishvili.
Beyond here the road loops down to the
Sololaki neighbourhood.

Avlabari & the Left Bank

Avlabari is the dramatically located slice of
Tbilisi above the cliffs on the left (east) bank
of the Mtkvari, across the Metekhi Bridge
from the Old Town.
At least twice foreign conquerors (Jalaledin
in 1226 and the Persians in 1522) used the
bridge for forcible conversion of the Georgian
population to Islam (many resisted and were
tossed into the river). The bridge was controlled by a fortification on the rocky outcrop
above it, where you can now see the Metekhi
Church (Map pp48-9; Metekhis aghmarti) and a 1960s
equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali (Map
pp489). This is where Gorgasali built his palace, and the sites original church, when he
made Tbilisi his capital in the 5th century. King
David the Builder had his palace here too, and
it was here that Queen Tamar married her second husband, David Soslan. That palace and
its accompanying church were destroyed by
the Mongols in 1235. The palace too passed
through several incarnations until its final destruction in the Persian sacking of 1795.
The church we see today was built by King
Demetre Tavdadebuli (the Self-Sacrificing)
between 1278 and 1289, and has been reconstructed many times since. An old-fashioned
design for the 13th century, it is thought to
be a deliberate copy of its predecessor. The
church was converted into a theatre in 1974,

GEORGIA

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tskh

15

Gotsiridze

i
retl
Tse

Mar

Vedzisi
Nutsubidze
Plateau

Saburtal
os

q u c ha

ha
nis quc
Bakhtrio
Politeknikuri

Dinamo
Stadium

Mushtaidi
Garden

K o s ta

7
Chavcha
vadzis
1
Paliashvil
is qucha
I Abashi
dzis quch
a

Vake
Park

gamzi 9
ri

Arakishvilis
qucha

17

10
22

Cable Ca

21
20
cha 12
as qu
Mtskhet

Tunnel
Gmirta
moedani

13

8
23

Varaz
iskh
ev
is

shid
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K ip

14

11

Mel
ikish
vilis
quc
ha

Vere

Rustaveli

16

Mtatsminda
Kus Tba

finally being reconsecrated in the 1980s. The

tomb of early Christian martyr St Shushanik
tortured by her husband in 544 for refusing
to convert to Zoroastrianism is to the left
of the altar.
Historically the Avlabari area housed
Tbilisis large Armenian population, one
that has traditionally been focused around
the Echmiadzin Cathedral (Map pp48-9; Ketevan
Tsamebulis moedani), which is currently closed
for restoration.
High on Elia Hill above Avlabari rises the
biggest symbol of Georgias post-Soviet religious revival, the Tsminda Sameba (Holy Trinity)
Cathedral (Map pp489); (an unmissable landmark by night and day), consecrated in 2004
after a decade of building work. A massive

SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES

Open-Air Museum of Ethnography...................... 16 A4
Tbilisi State University.......................................... 17 C3
Vake Swimming Pool & Fitness Club.................... 18 A3

TRANSPORT
AZAL (Azerbaijan Airlines).................................... 22 C3
Lufthansa............................................................. 23 C4

ch

Ver
a

Vake

B3
B3
B2
C2
D4
A3
B3
C3
C3
C3
A3
C4
D3
B3
B1

EATING
II Garage.............................................................. 21 C4

qu

qucha

INFORMATION
Aversi Pharmacy.....................................................1
Azerbaijan Embassy................................................2
Curatio...................................................................3
Geocell................................................................... 4
GeorgiCa Travel..................................................... 5
Iranian Embassy......................................................6
Laundry..................................................................7
Levon Travel...........................................................8
Magti..................................................................... 9
MediClubGeorgia................................................. 10
Russian Embassy...................................................11
Tbisi Laundry....................................................... 12
TNT..................................................................... 13
Turkish Embassy...................................................14
Ukraine Embassy...................................................15

TBILISI Sights

SLEEPING
Hotel Lago............................................................19 B1
Hotel VIP Victoria................................................. 20 C4

va s

18

lonelyplanet.com

expression of traditional Georgian architectural forms in concrete, brick, granite and marble, it rises 84m to the top of the gold-covered
cross above its central dome. The main entrance to the cathedrals extensive grounds is
on Uritski, reached via Meskhishvili up the
hill from Ketevan Tsamebulis moedani. The
cathedral is five-aisles wide but its emphasis
is on verticality, with a result like one single,
many-bulwarked tower. The huge dome creates a larger and much brighter central space
than youll find in most Georgian churches.
A big new illuminated manuscript of the New
Testament, in a jewel-studded silver cover,
stands in a glass case to the right of the altar.
Theres a whole large second church beneath
the main one, down 81 steps from the west

end. Designed by Archil Mindiashvili, the

building was paid for mostly by donations
from anonymous businesspeople and citizens.
Some controversy surrounded its construction
on the site of an old Armenian cemetery.
Not far below the cathedral, Georgias
large new presidential palace (Map pp489) is
under construction between Tsutskiridze and
Abdushelishvili. Its an equally unmissable
landmark given that its topped by a large,
egg-shaped glass dome equipped with neon
lights of constantly changing colour.

Rustaveli & the New Town

Tbilisis main artery is Rustavelis gamziri, running 1.5km north from Tavisuplebis moedani.
Laid out by the Russians in the 19th century
and strung with elegant and important buildings, it tends to be the place in Tbilisi you
always find yourself walking. A refurbishment
programme has spruced up Rustaveli: faades
have been restored, flower beds planted and
new pavements (on which cars can no longer
park) laid . Several new top-end hotels are also
being added to its landscape.
Tavisuplebis moedani (Freedom Sq), with the
city hall on its south side and a Marriott hotel
on the west, was Lenin Sq in Soviet times.

57

Georgias last Lenin statue, toppled in 1990,

stood where a golden St George now spears
his dragon.
Just off the northeast corner of Tavisuplebis
moedani is the Fine Arts Museum (Map p54;
%999909; Gudiashvili 1; admission 1.50 GEL; h11am-4pm
Tue-Sun), a comprehensive if underwhelmingly

presented storehouse of Georgian art and artisanry from several centuries BC up to the late
20th century. Sections may be closed because
of air-conditioning problems, and at the time
of research the museum was due for renovation, which may put it out of action altogether
for a while. The major highlight is the treasury
section, which can only be entered with a
guide (no extra charge). This contains a great
wealth of icons, crosses and jewellery in precious metals and stones from all over Georgia
and old Georgian churches and monasteries
on what is now Turkish territory. Many of
Georgias most sacred and revered objects are
here. Dont miss the beautiful little pectoral
cross of Queen Tamar, set with four emeralds,
five rubies and six pearls the only known
personal relic of the great 12th-century monarch. The museum also has sections devoted
to the wonderful paintings of Niko Pirosmani;
19th-century Persian and Azerbaijani art and
crafts; and Georgian, European and Russian
paintings of the 18th to 20th centuries. The
building was once a seminary: Stalin studied
for the priesthood here from 1894 to 1898
until expelled for revolutionary activities.
Off the opposite corner of Tavisuplebis
moedani is the well-presented Museum of
Money (Map pp48-9; h923806; Leonidze 10; admission
free; h10am-1pm & 2-4pm Mon-Fri), set up by the
National Bank of Georgia next door. You can
see Georgian money from the 6th century BC
to the present day, including the Monopolystyle coupons used in 199394 before the lari
was introduced.
North along Rustaveli from Tavisuplebis
Moedani, almost opposite Tavisuplebis
Moedani metro station, is the Museum of Georgia
(Map pp48-9; %998022; Rustaveli 3; admission 3 GEL, tour
10 GEL; h11am-4pm Tue-Sun). This is Georgias top

museum, though in 2007 the whole place was

shut for renovations of unspecified duration.
The main rooms cover Georgias history, including a section on the Soviet occupation
and an exhibit on the 1.75-million-year-old
skulls found at Dmanisi, 80km southwest of
Tbilisi, which may be the oldest human remains found outside Africa. Most stunning of

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

56

TBILISI Sights

lonelyplanet.com

Vake

TBILISI IN ONE DAY

Begin with a coffee and khachapuri at one of the cafs on Rustaveli (p64), before wandering
the atmospheric alleyways of the Old Town (p52), dropping into some of the fascinating old
churches on the way, and crossing the river to the Metekhi Church (p55) with its panoramic
views. A walk up to the Narikala Fortress (p55) and Kartlis Deda (p55) above the city will give
you great views and help to work up an appetite for lunch at one of the popular Old Town
eateries. Visit the Museum of Georgia (p57) or, if its not open, the nearby Fine Arts Museum
(p57) and then wander back into the Old Town or along Rustaveli for some shopping (p67). In
the evening head out to a traditional Georgian restaurant (p63) with as many people as possible
for some serious feasting. For a nightcap and a spot of live music head to the crowded bar and
restaurant strip on Akhvlediani (p64, p65 and p65).

all is the basement treasury (guide obligatory)

with an outstanding collection of archaeological finds including gold artefacts and jewellery
from pre-Christian Georgia.
Back on the west side of the street, the higharched Georgian Parliament (Map pp489)
was constructed as the Soviet government
building between 1938 and 1953 and finished
off by German POWs. Momentous events
in Georgias recent history have taken place
here: the Soviet massacre of 20 Georgian
hunger strikers on 9 April 1989; Georgias
independence declaration on 9 April 1991;
on 6 January 1992 President Gamsakhurdia
fled the building after being besieged in it for
two weeks; and the Rose Revolution on 22
November 2003. A small monument in front
of the Parliament commemorates the dead
of 1989. The next building, School Number 1
(Map pp489), was gutted in the 199192
fighting, but was reconstructed soon after.
It was founded in 1802 to prepare sons of
the Georgian nobility for the Russian Civil
Service. In front of the school are statues of
the 19th-century writers and reformers Ilia
Chavchavadze and Akaki Tsereteli.
Opposite School No 1 stands the Kashveti
Church (Map pp489), on a spot where it is
said pagan rituals used to take place. The first
church here is supposed to have been built in
the 6th century by Davit Gareja, one of the
ascetic Syrian fathers who returned from the
Middle East to spread Christianity in Georgia.
According to legend, a nun accused him of
impregnating her. He replied that if this were
true, shed give birth to a baby, and if not, to a
stone, which duly happened. Kashveti means
Stone Birth. The existing 1910 building was
designed by architect Leopold Bielfeld as a
copy of the 11th-century Samtavisi Church,
60km northwest of Tbilisi.

lonelyplanet.com

On the same side of the road, past the

Tbilisi Marriott Hotel, is the elegant Rustaveli
National Theatre (Map pp489), built between
1899 and 1901 in a baroque-cum-rococo
style. A little further on is the Paliashvili
Opera & Ballet Theatre (Map pp489), created
only slightly earlier (1896) in a fantastic
Moorish style.
Just after the post office building made
from glass and yellow stone comes Vardebis
Revolutsis moedani (Rose Revolution Sq; formerly Republic Sq), which has views towards the Caucasus mountains. Rustaveli
branches left just before this square towards Rustavelis moedani, easily identified
by a 1937 statue of the poet himself (and a
McDonalds restaurant).
North from Rustavelis moedani, Kostava
leads up to the State Concert Hall (Philharmonia;
map pp489) and Vere Park. The musical fountains outside the concert hall are a favourite
with Tbilisi kids wanting to cavort and cool
off in the heat of summer.

Mt Mtatsminda
Mtatsminda is the hill topped by the 210mhigh TV mast looming over central Tbilisi
from the west. You can get up there by a
steep funicular railway from Chonkadze. At
the funiculars halfway stop is the Mamadaviti
Church (Map pp489), an 1850s construction
on the site of a hermitage of St Davit Gareja.
Just below the church, the national Pantheon
(Map pp489) contains graves of writers and
public figures including Ilia Chavchavadze
and Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
At the top of the hill, Mtatsminda Park (Map
pp489) spreads over more than 1 sq km,
with wonderful views and a new amusement
park that includes what Georgians consider
Europes highest roller coaster (60m high).

Considered Tbilisis most prestigious neighbourhood, home to many nouveaux riches

and expatriates, Vake is said to have been built
over the graves of the victims of the 1930s
purges. Its a pleasant neighbourhood of apartment blocks and houses, with a good sprinkling of bars, cafs and shops. Bus 55 from
Tavisuplebis moedani runs along Rustaveli, up
Kostava then along the length of Vakes main
avenue, Chavchavadzis gamziri.
Vakes main claim to fame is Tbilisi State
University (Map p56), near the start of
Chavchavadzis gamziri. The main university
building, circa 1906, is elegant, white and
neoclassical. It was originally a school for
the nobility.
Attractive Vake Park is about 2km beyond
the university. A sporadically operating cable
car (0.40 GEL one-way; h10am-8pm) sails up to Kus
Tba (Turtle Lake; map p56), a popular summer
spot for sunbathing, swimming, boating and
strolling. The Open-Air Museum of Ethnography
(Map p56; %230960; Kus Tba 1; admission 1.50 GEL, tour
10 GEL; h 10.30am-9pm Jun-Sep, to 4pm Oct-May) is

about 3km beyond, and uphill from, the

park. This collection of nearly 70 traditional,
mostly wooden houses from around Georgia
is spread over a wooded hillside with good
views, and makes an enjoyable visit. The most
interesting exhibits are in the lower section of
the museum (near the entrance), where the
buildings are kitted out with fine traditional
furnishings, rugs and utensils. Theres also
an archaeological section, which includes a
basilica from the 6th and 7th centuries. You
can reach the open-air museum by walking
up from Vake Park, or down the road from
Kus Tba (about 2km). Or take bus 59 from
opposite Marjanishvili metro station or along
Kostava or Chavchavadzis gamziri to its last
stop, then walk or take a taxi 2km up the road
between the concrete pillars opposite.

ACTIVITIES
In the searing heat of the Tbilisi summer,
a cooling splash can be just the thing. The
open-air Laguna Vere Pool (Map pp48-9; %998231;
Kostava 34; admission 15 GEL; h7am-1pm & 2-9pm Mon-Sat,
8am-1pm & 2-8pm Sun) is popular with locals. Its a

mite antiquated but has a clean 50m by 25m

pool. First-time visitors need to pay 5 GEL
extra for a cursory medical inspection.
Much more luxurious and modern (and
expensive) is the beautiful 50m indoor pool

TBILISI Activities

59

at Vake Swimming Pool & Fitness Club (Map p56;

%252575; www.vakefitness.ge; men/women 90/54 GEL;
Chavchavadzis gamziri 49B; h7am-11pm Mon-Fri, 9am10pm Sat, 9am-9pm Sun). The pool is heated to a

constant 28C. Admission includes use of a

state-of-the-art fitness club.
For water-slide excitement, theres Europark
(%690181; Trikotazhi 3; admission 50 GEL; h10am-8pm;
mElektrodepo), an aquapark opened in 2007 in

the Nadzaladevi district, offering 12 slides,

four pools, palm trees and several cafs.
Any time of year is good for a traditional
bath and massage experience at Tbilisis famed
sulphur baths, the Abanotubani (p53).

WALKING TOUR
This walk takes you through the heart of
Tbilisis New Town and the narrow streets of
the Old Town, then across to the dramatically
located left bank of the Mtkvari.
Start outside Rustaveli metro station, one
of the citys main hubs and home to the grotesquely large main branch of McDonalds.
More interesting are the monument (1) to the
national bard Shota Rustaveli and the pleasantly Stalinist Academy of Sciences (2; Rustaveli 52),
with its landmark tower and spire. Walk along
Rustaveli to soak up the bustling, cosmopolitan atmosphere of Tbilisis main artery, strung
with handsome and important buildings such
as the Opera House (3; opposite), the Rustaveli
Theatre (4; opposite), the Kashveti Church (5;
opposite), the Parliament (6; opposite) and the
Museum of Georgia (7; p57).
From Tavisuplebis moedani (8; p57) at the end
of Rustaveli, head down Leselidze at the far left
corner of the square, then along Diumas, the
first left off Leselidze. Take the first short lane
to the right after the Hotel Dzveli Ubani and
then follow Avlevi down to the left through
an area of quaint Old Town houses. Avlevi
emerges on pedestrianised Shavteli; turn right
here, passing the Anchiskhati Basilica (9; p53)
and Erekle II moedani (10; p53) and into Erekle
II qucha with its cafs. Continue along Sionis
qucha, past the Sioni Cathedral (11; p53) and the
Tbilisi History Museum (12; p53), and then duck
into Bambis rigi or Shardenis qucha, both
lined with smart cafs. Either of these narrow
pedestrian streets brings you out on Gorgasalis
moedani (13; p52), with Narikala Fortress rising
on the hill above.
Take the small street (Samghebro) in front
of the lovely Armenian Cathedral of St George
(14; p53) down to the Abanotubani (15; p53),

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

58

T B I L I S I Fe s t i v a l s & E v e n t s

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

0
0

WALKING TOUR
Ko
qu stav
ch as
a
Vere
START
Rustaveli
Zandukelis
1
qucha

Vardebis
Revolutsis
moedani

Svanetisubani
Ma
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en a

Sana
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5
Orbelianis
moedani

6
7
Tavisuplebis
moedani

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9
10

Erekle II
moedani
S io

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Sololaki

Old
Town

Ierusali

Asatianis qucha

Shavtelis
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Avlabari
11
12
END

ha

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13
14

16
15

Ketevan
Tsamebulis
moedani

Mtkvari
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Gorgasa
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Botanical
Gardens

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Avlabari

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Tabidzis qucha

L e o n i d z is

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Mtatsminda
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400 m
0.2 miles

Bo t a c
qu

Tbilisi International Film Festival (www.tbilisifilm

WALK FACTS
Start Rustaveli monument
Finish Metekhi Church
Distance 4km
Time two hours

Tbilisis traditional sulphur baths. Head back

to Gorgasalis moedani and across the Metekhi
Bridge and up the hill to finish your walk at
the emblematic Metekhi Church (16; p55).

FESTIVALS & EVENTS

The highlight of the year is Tbilisoba, the festival of new wine and the citys founding, on
the last weekend in October.
This is a wonderful time to visit the whole
city comes out to party, and plenty of entertainment and fun take place on and off
the streets.
Tbilisi is also big on arts festivals:
Art Gene Festival (www.artgeni.ge) This Georgian
folklore festival tours the country and culminates with
several days of music, dance, poetry, cooking and crafts in
Tbilisi, in June or July.

festival.ge) Showcases recent Georgian and international

movies; held in the last quarter of the year (dates vary).
Season tickets for all showings are as little as 25 GEL.
Tbilisi Jazz Festival (www.easternpromotion.com)
International artists fly in for 10 days of jazz in late June;
ticket prices for headline acts can be astronomical.

Tumanishvili Georgian International Festival of

Arts (GIFT ) Mainly international drama performances,

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

homestays of varying character offer inexpensive accommodation here. They dont

serve food but there are plenty of economical
eateries and food shops nearby.
Khatunas Homestay (Map pp48-9;%566281, 899
173609; Chitaia 12; per person 8 GEL) This small apartment between Marjanishvili and the train
station offers supercheap beds crowded into
its couple of rooms, plus a bathroom with a
shower and hot water. Its fine and friendly,
and Khatuna and her young daughter speak
some English.
Nasi Gvetadzes Homestay (Map pp48-9;%950894;
Marjanishvili 30/92; per person 20 GEL) Retired teacher
Nasi Gvetadze has the longest-running
Marjanishvili homestay in her homey old
apartment. Its still an inexpensive and wellkept place to stay if you dont mind paying
for showers (2 GEL for hot, 1 GEL for cold)
and that she likes to lock the door at midnight. Nasi speaks fluent German and rudimentary English. Hers is the last entrance on
the right in the courtyard.
Irine Japaridzes Boarding House (Map pp48-9;
%954716; www.iverieli.narod.ru; Ninoshvili 19 B3; per person 20-25 GEL; ai) Artist Irines two-storey

apartment is the hub of Tbilisis backpacker

social scene. She delights in the international
atmosphere and has stacked her six rooms
with beds and bunks to squeeze in as many
travellers as possible. If you like a crowd and
dont mind waiting for the shower, this is a
great place. Guests can use the kitchen, and
a load of laundry costs 5 GEL. Go in the entrance with two headless stone lions and up
to the top of the stairs. Bicycles welcome!
oDodos Homestay (Map pp48-9;%954213,

around the second half of October.

893327010; dodogeorgia@gmail.com; Marjanishvili 38; dm/

private room per person 25/30 GEL) Dodos is the

SLEEPING

choice pick for budget travellers who like

a slightly more spacious, less hectic atmosphere. The single-storey house has five large
guest rooms and a shady courtyard for sitting out. Members of the extremely helpful family speak excellent English, German
and Italian. Cooking facilities and washing
machine are free.
Hotel Lile (Map pp48-9;%773856; Ghvinis aghmarti
19; r 70-90 GEL; a) The friendly Lile is a short
walk across the river from the Old Town,
close to Avlabari metro station. Rooms are
good value and comfortable, all with good
bathrooms and air-con, though the street is
busy with loud traffic.

Places to stay are located mainly in the Old

Town and the New Town in the centre, and
in the suburbs of Vere and Saburtalo further
north. Prices given here include the tax that
is often left out of hotel publicity. Most midrange and top-end establishments accept
credit cards; note that they also quote their
prices in dollars, not lari.

Budget
Home from home for backpackers in Tbilisi
is Marjanishvili, a leafy street thats full of
local life, east of the Mtkvari River but only
one metro stop from Rustaveli. Several

TBILISI Sleeping

61

Midrange
There are many good midrange choices in the
centre and in nearby leafy Vere.
Hotel Dzveli Ubani (Map p54; %922404; www
.dzveliubani.com.ge; Diumas 5; r incl breakfast US$40-80;
a) This small hotel has a great location, just

off Leselidze in the Old Town. Cosy, wellequipped rooms with good modern bathrooms are available at reasonable prices. Staff
speak English, and its one of the best deals
in its range.
Hotel Kartli (Map pp48-9; %982982; hot_kartli@gol
.ge; Barnov 32; s/d incl breakfast US$40/50; a) Goodvalue Kartli, in a fairly tranquil uphill part of
Vere, makes guests feel at home with 12 cosy,
rustically furnished rooms, four of which have
air-con. The helpful staff speak English and
German and the terrace restaurant (mains 6
GEL to 15 GEL) is a popular lunch spot.
VIP Hotel (Map p54; %920040; hotel@vipmail.ge;
Leselidze 31; s/d US$50/60; a) The VIP stands in
a quiet courtyard off Leselidze in the thick
of the Old Town. Rooms are spacious, with
quality dark-wood furniture; those on the
top floor are air-conditioned and enjoy great
views across to the east bank of the Mtkvari.
Hotel Charm (Map p54; % 986348; www.hotel
charm.ge; Chakhrukhadze 11; r incl breakfast US$40-80; a)

The atmospheric, centrally located Charm is

a small, family-run hotel boasting a superb
collection of antique furniture. The lounge
includes a white Steinway, while the breakfast
bar is rich with taxidermy. Three rooms on
the 1st floor (each with a private bathroom)
are extremely comfortable in 19th-century
Georgian style, while the three on the 2nd
floor share a very clean bathroom and toilet.
Theres billiards downstairs.
Hotel David (Map pp48-9; %935006; www.david
hotel.ge; Paolo Iashvili 16A; s/d incl breakfast US$50/60; a)

A smart and comfortable small hotel not

far from Tavisuplebis moedani. Rooms are
equipped with attractive wooden furniture
and satellite TV. You pay extra to use the small
gym and sauna.
Vere Inn (Map pp48-9; %294733; www.hotels-tbilisi
.com; Barnov 53; r US$50-90; as) A very pleasant
and reasonably priced option, this hideaway
in Vere has four good-sized, quirkily but tastefully decorated rooms and is exceptionally
friendly. The English-speaking owners are
full of useful information and breakfast is
included with all but the US$50 room.
Hotel GTM (Map pp48-9; %273348; www.gtmkapan
.ltd.ge; Metekhis aghmarti 4; r incl breakfast US$59-95; a)

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

60

TBILISI Sleeping

With good prices and a great location opposite the Metekhi Church, the medium-sized
GTM is understandably busy and popular.
The more expensive rooms tend to be exterior,
often with balcony; the cheaper rooms are
interior or smaller.
Hotel Lago (Map p56; %380517, 899742433; hotel
lago@hotmail.com; Kandelaki 27; s/d incl breakfast US$60/75)

Despite its off-centre location in Saburtalo,

its well worth considering this unique hotel,
which is furnished from top to bottom with
French antique furniture. Friendly, cosy and
elegant, its unmarked outside except for the
street number; ring to enter. Rooms 7 and 8
share an enormous walk-out balcony.
oHotel British House (Map pp48-9; %988783;
www.british-house.ge; Belinski 32; s/d incl breakfast
US$80/100; ai) British owned but Georgian

run, this little hotel is elegant, exceptionally

welcoming, and located in a quiet, leafy part
of Vere. The rooms are traditional in style but
offer modern comforts.
Hotel Old Metekhi (Map pp48-9; %747431; www
.oldmetekhi.ge; Metekhi 3; incl breakfast s US$80-110, d
US$130; a) Perched on a rocky cliff above the

Mtkvari, Old Metekhi is a traditional establishment favouring individual attention over

visitor numbers: despite its size, it only has 15
rooms. Rooms are comfortable rather than
luxurious, but most have attractive marquetry floors and balconies with fabulous views.
Overall, one of the most pleasant places to
put up in Tbilisi. The popular Dzveli Metekhi
restaurant is attached.
Villa Mtiebi (Map p54; %920340; www.hotelmtiebi
.ge; Chakhrukhadze 10; s/d incl breakfast US$85/100; a) A
small Old Town hotel that provides modern
conveniences while maintaining its original
late-19th-century elegance. At the centre of
the hotel features a lovely skylit, plant-draped
atrium, where continental breakfast is served.
Rooms are soundproofed and have excellent
up-to-date bathrooms, and service is personal
and attentive.
Hotel Beaumonde (Map pp48-9; %986003; bali103@
hotmail.com; A Chavchavadzis qucha 11; r incl half board &
alcohol US$90-120; i) The Giorgadze family will

make you feel very welcome in their charming small hotel. The rooms are large and
comfortable, and the hotel has good extra
touches such as a library and a roof terrace
with paddling pool.
Hotel Kopala (Map pp48-9; %775520; www.kopala
.ge; Chekhov 8/10; s/d US$90/105, ste US$120/135;
ai) Classy Kopala has one of the loveliest

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

positions in the city, above the Metekhi

Church. Many of its spacious rooms have
large balconies overlooking the Old Town,
and the staff are amiable and efficient. The excellent restaurant enjoys the same great views,
and the hotel also boasts a bizarre meeting
hall in the style of an 18th-century Metekhian
mansion definitely the place for a surreal
corporate retreat.
Hotel Iliani (Map pp48-9; %335710; www.iliani.com;
Anjaparidze 1; s $90, d US$100-120; ai) On the socalled Hill of Dreams, the recently renovated
Iliani is one of the most pleasant midrange hotels in Tbilisi, with good service. Most of the
well-designed, individually furnished rooms
have balconies overlooking a leafy garden.
Its on a quiet residential street, a short walk
from Kostava and the centre of town, and has
its own good restaurant.
Hotel Tori (Map pp48-9; %923765; web.sanet.ge/tori;
Chanturia 10; s/d incl breakfast US$95/118; ai) This
friendly and comfortable place has a highly
central location near Rustaveli, along with
neat, clean rooms that boast great bathrooms.
Theres a restaurant and an exchange office,
plus a fitness room, billiards, a sauna and a
Turkish bath for your spare moments.
oHotel VIP Victoria (Map p56; %291877;
www.victoria.com.ge; Arakishvili 1 chikhi 3; r incl breakfast
US$118-142; ai) A fine place to unwind, this

charming small hotel in Vake is popular with

international agency staff and businessfolk.
Its modern, tasteful and very comfortable,
with parquet floors, spacious and quiet sitting areas, interesting original art and even
fur-covered toilet seats!

Top End
At least six more top-end international
chain hotels Radisson, InterContinental,
Kempinski, Hilton, Hyatt and yet another
Marriott are due to open in Tbilisi in the
next few years.
oHotel Ambasadori (Map p54;%920403;
www.ambasadori.ge; Shavteli 13; incl breakfast s US$115,
d US$135-170; ais) An elegant hotel in a

great location overlooking the Mtkvari, the

Ambasadori is an excellent alternative to the
bigger, pricier establishments. Almost new
but in attractive fin-de-sicle-style, it features
well-equipped rooms with very comfortable
beds, plus a rooftop pool overlooking the
Anchiskhati Basilica. Service is friendly and
polished, and the sepia-tint photos of old
Tbilisi add character.

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

Betsys Hotel (Map pp48-9;%931404; www.betsyshotel

.com; Makashvili 32-34; s/d incl breakfast & dinner US$165/195;
as) A favourite with Georgias numerous
international-agency workers, this oasis of
American-run efficiency is understandably
popular. The rooms are bright and very comfortable and some boast great views over the
city. The cocktail bar and restaurant are both
highly recommended, and theres a bookshop
and a small outdoor pool (dont expect to be
able to work off the khachapuri).
Courtyard by Marriott (Map pp48-9;%779100;
www.courtyard.com/TBSCY; Tavisuplebis moedani 4; r from
US$277; ains) The less expensive and

less formal of Tbilisis two Marriotts, the

Courtyard is another little island of Western
comfort, with amiable staff. Rooms are typical
international business class, brightened by
colourful art and offering 54-channel satellite
TV. The good indoor pool and fitness club are
included in room prices.
Tbilisi Marriott Hotel (Map pp48-9;%779200; www
.marriott.com/TBSMC; Rustaveli 13; r incl breakfast from
US$325; ain ) This palace of excellent

service and facilities is aimed at a business

and international-organisation crowd, so is
rather formal and quiet. The rooms are spacious, with supercomfortable beds, and the
bathrooms are huge. The hotel also houses the
Majestic Restaurant (with Italian food), as well
as a ballroom and a very good fitness centre.
Originally built in 191415, the hotel was reduced to a burnt-out shell during the 199192
fighting. Marriott restored it to more than its
former splendour and reopened it in 2002.

EATING
Tbilisi restaurants span a broad range from
traditional-style feasts of superb Georgian
fare to less boisterous eateries serving all
sorts of other cuisines. Theres also a great
caf culture.

Old Town
At the heart of the Old Town are the three
pedestrian streets Erekle II, Sharden and
Bambis rigi, all lined with fashionable cafs,
bars, restaurants and galleries. Other eateries
are scattered around the Old Town and in the
Metekhi area just across the river.
Teremok (Map p54;%877454414; Dadiani 18; dishes
2.50-11 GEL; h10am-11pm) This cosy little restaurant in the style of an old Russian cottage specialises in scrumptious bliny, little
round pancakes beloved of Russians and

TBILISI Eating

63

indeed most people who have ever tried them.

You can enjoy them with mushrooms, meat,
cream, jam, cheese, fruit or many other options. Other Russian and Ukrainian dishes
are served too.
Prestige (Map p54; Leselidze 40; dishes 3-6 GEL; h9am1pm) This fairly standard beer bar has a leafy
back garden where its nice to sit out over
a mtsvadi (shashlyk) or a khachapuri on a
summer evening.
Puris Sakhli (Map pp48-9;%999537; Gorgasali 7; mains
4-10 GEL; hnoon-11pm) A short walk from the
sulphur baths, Puris Sakhli (Bread House) is
one of Tbilisis most popular and lively spots
for a meal. The menu is in English as well as
Georgian, and a huge feast for two is unlikely
to be more than 40 GEL.
Sans Souci (Map p54;%986594; Shavteli 13; mains
5-10 GEL; h10am-12.30am) This quirkily attractive little restaurant makes a great place for
lunch or dinner. It offers friendly service and a
view of both the Anchiskhati Basilica and the
Hangar sports bar. The food is Georgian with
original twists try the leek hors doeuvre
for starters.
China Town (Map p54;%754114; Sharden; mains 5-15
GEL; v) Colourful and consistently popular,
China Town serves authentic Chinese dishes
including tofu combinations and plenty of
other options for vegetarians. There are meat
dishes on offer too.
Dzveli Metekhi (Map pp48-9;%747407; Metekhi 3;
mains 7-15 GEL; hnoon-10pm) Across the Metekhi
Bridge from the Old Town proper, this understandably popular place attached to the
Hotel Old Metekhi (opposite) has sought-after
balcony tables with superb views over the Old
Town. The food is excellent Georgian and
international fare, plus theres a good wine
list. Live music most nights.
Hotel Kopala (Map pp48-9;%775520; Chekhov 8/10;
mains 7-17 GEL) Also on the Metekhi side of the
river, the restaurant of the Hotel Kopala has
one of the best views in the city (across the
river to the Old Town) and a fairly tranquil
ambience. It serves some of the best Georgian
food and a good range of wines too.
12 Rue Chardin (Map p54;%923238; Sharden 12; mains
8-25 GEL) The best place for a proper meal on the
Sharpen strip, with a mainly European menu
and ambience, and French wine.
Shemoikhede Genatsvale (Map p54;%439646;
Leselidze 25; 2-course meal incl drinks 15-30 GEL; h8am11pm) Neat, modern and less atmospheric than

the other Shemoikhede Genatsvale (p64), but

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62

TBILISI Eating

with the same excellent Georgian food and

efficient service. Easiest identified by the
Pirosmani painting on the street frontage of
a dog and three men eating.

Rustaveli & Around

Caravan (Map pp48-9;%996691; Purtseladze 10; mains
6-30 GEL; hnoon-3am) Interesting lounge-style
restaurant-caf with an East-meets-West literary ambience. Eclectic and well-prepared
food from Uzbek plov to French steak or
Norwegian salmon is served at low tables
with cushioned benches in a relaxed space
amid kilims, hookahs and assorted prints and
posters of writers.
o Dzveli Sakhli (Map pp48-9;% 923497;
Marjvena Sanapiro 3; mains 8-25 GEL) Down by the river,
the expansive Old House is one of the best
places in town, serving authentic dishes with
a twist from all over Georgia. Theres often
excellent Georgian music and dancing in the
main dining hall, which has long banquet
tables, ideal for small groups with time to
enjoy a full evening. If you fancy a quieter
meal, choose the partly open-air riverside hall.
Service isnt rapid but the food is worth a wait.
You can order wine by the jug.
Csabas Jazz-Rock Caf (Map pp48-9;%923192;
Vashlovani 3; mains 10-15 GEL: hnoon-4am) Anyone curious about what to expect from a HungarianGeorgian restaurant will be pleasantly
surprised by the excellent salads and meat
dishes in this friendly little establishment with
a wooden interior. Most nights live jazz or
rock is an enjoyable accompaniment from
8.30pm to 10pm.
Tokyo (Map pp48-9;%995632; Akhvlediani 17; mains
15-40 GEL) This sleek Japanese place is one of
Tbilisis most stylish restaurants. The superb
sushi is all prepared authentically, although
it is pricey.
La Brasserie (M03CMap pp48-9;%779100; Courtyard by
Marriott, Tavisuplebis moedani 4; continental/full breakfast
21/32 GEL; h6.30-11am Mon-Fri, to noon Sat & Sun)

The Marriott Courtyards not-too-formal

restaurant is just the place if you feel like
a truly enormous buffet breakfast. Wi-fi
available too.
CAFS & CHEAP EATS

Chocolate (Map pp48-9; Rustaveli 36; snacks 1-2 GEL; h24

hr) Excellent little caf serving baklava and other
Turkish sweets, khachapuri and good coffee.
Kafe Lotus (Map p54;%877469197; Tavisuplebis moedani 7; mains 1.50-2.50 GEL; h10am-8pm Mon-Sat; v)

lonelyplanet.com

This vegetarian canteen is one of the best

places for lunch on the run in Tbilisi. Its
cheap, cheerful and delicious, and the
menu includes vegetarian versions of
traditional Georgian meat dishes and
oriental fare.
Cafe Nikala (Map pp48-9;%998283; Rustaveli 22;
mains 3-5 GEL; h9am-11pm) A bright self-service
place with dependable salads, rice and meat
dishes, khachapuri and cakes a far cry
from the dreary self-service canteens of
Soviet times.
SELF-CATERING

Plenty of supermarkets offer a large range

of foodstuffs. One of the best in the centre
is Populi (Map pp48-9; Georgian Trade Centre, Vekua
3; h8am-11pm).

Marjanishvili & Around

Ankara (Map pp48-9;%957281; Davit Aghmashenebeli
128; mains 4-8 GEL; h8am-10pm) A short stretch
of this busy street looks like it has been
transplanted from Turkey, with Turkish
restaurants, Turkish businesses and even
a Turkish hotel. The Ankara is a modern,
clean, air-conditioned restaurant done out in
pink and white, where you can get plenty of
good salad and sweets as well as kebabs and
other meaty dishes.
oShemoikhede Genatsvale (Map pp48-9;
%910005; Marjanishvili 5; 2-course meal incl drinks 15-30
GEL; h8am-11pm) The name means Drop in,

Love and this restaurant enacts that invitation with terrific Georgian food in a fun,
old-fashioned, but not overwhelming tavern
ambience, with good service. Spot it by the
Pirosmani painting of three men and a dog
displayed outside. The house speciality is the
excellent khinkali (with potato- or mushroom
-stuffed varieties as well as meat) but there
are very good mtsvadi (meat kebabs) and
chkmeruli (sizzling chicken in garlic sauce).
Wash it all down with draft beer or good
house wine. The menu is in Georgian only,
but some staff speak English.
CAFS & CHEAP EATS

Sachashnike (Map pp48-9; Davit Aghmashenebeli 114;

mains 3-4 GEL; h 7am-9pm) Straightforward
and excellent-value place convenient for
the Marjanishvili homestays. You can get
khinkali for 0.40 GEL each, pork mtsvadi
for 4 GEL and a carafe of Georgian wine
for 3 GEL.

lonelyplanet.com

Vere & Vake

El Depo (Map pp48-9; Ghambashidze 10; khinkali 0.40-0.50
GEL; h24 hr) One of the most central branches
of the popular khinkali chain a good place to
enjoy this Georgian staple, with rustic wooden
tables and other traditional decor. Does good
lobio too.
Il Garage (Map p56; %877780090; Mtskheta 1; mains
10-17 GEL; hnoon-10pm Mon-Sat, closed Aug) Sardinian
chefs whip up yummy concoctions of fresh
pasta at this minimalist haunt facing the socalled Mrgvani Baghi (Circle Garden). Eat inside
or surrounded by greenery on the patio.
CAFS & CHEAP EATS

Kafe Literaturuli (Map pp48-9; %444546; Tarkhnishvili

2; cakes & pastries 2-5 GEL; h10am-1pm) The Literary
Caf is a great stop near the Philharmonia
for tea, coffee and sweet snacks. One branch
of a small chain, its calm and informal, with
neat modern design and a mildly trendy,
artsy atmosphere.

DRINKING
The Old Town, especially the pedestrianised
streets with their strings of designer bars and
pavement cafs, is Tbilisis fashionable place
to drink and socialise. The longer-established
strip of bars and restaurants around
Akhvlediani is a less-sceney alternative with
less-inflated prices. Most bars serve meals as
well, and stay open until at least 1am.

Old Town
On Erekle II, Sharden and Bambis rigi its a
case of wandering along and seeing which bar
grabs your fancy.
Caf Kala (Map p54;%899799737; Erekle II 8/10;
hnoon-2am) The bar that got the Erekle II
scene going back in 2004, Kala is still consistently the most popular. Theres a comfortable,
arty atmosphere, free wi-fi and the citys best
live jazz from 9pm to midnight. The food is
pretty average.
Moulin Electrique (Map p54;%899359264; Erekle II
4/10; hnoon-2am) This funky two-level nook
attracts a cool 20s crowd. The dcor is a collection of random small objects that might
have been assembled at the Dry Bridge
market (p67).
Chardin Bar (Map p54;%752044; Sharden 4; hnoon2am) Gilt, velvet plush and photos of fashion
models pull in the beautiful people to chatter over cocktails and cakes to a techno and
ambient background.

TBILISI Drinking

65

Hangar Bar (Map p54;%931080; Shavteli 20; h11amlast customer Mon-Fri, noon-last customer Sat & Sun) Focus
for the expat communitys testosterone tendency, this Irish-American bar proclaims
itself the home of live rugby, shows TV sport
and serves Tex-Mex and Italian food. Its always
bustling and the welcoming staff speak perfect
English.

Rustaveli & Around

Running off the north end of Vardebis
Revolutsis moedani, Akhvlediani (formerly
Perovskoy and still widely known by that
name), along with neighbouring Kiacheli and
Vashlovani, is home to a cosmopolitan variety
of bars and eateries, several of which offer live
music. You can always find somewhere lively
to drop into here.
Laghidze, running down off Rustaveli
beside the Opera House, is home to a small
clutch of interesting bars.
Dublin (Map pp48-9;% 984467; Akhvlediani 8;
h10am-3am) The tight rock bands at this
popular and convivial Irish bar usually get
at least a few people dancing. The music may
not be original, but the musicians sure know
how to play it.
Nali (Map pp48-9;%986859; Kiacheli 4/1; h1pm2am) Its always worth checking out this other
Irish pub, bigger than Dublin, for its live rock
music and atmosphere.
Le Caf (Map pp48-9;%934913; Vashlovani 4; hnoon4am) A slick little bar with French ambience,
Le Caf is enjoyable to drop into for relatively
quiet conversation.
Near Opera (Map pp48-9;%899681166; Laghidze
2; h11.30am-2am) This concisely named bar,
popular with all ages, is a multichambered affair with dcor seemingly inspired by Aubrey
Beardsley. An excellent jazz trio plays from
9pm most nights.
Acid Bar (Map pp48-9;%899101238; Laghidze 2;
h10am-2am) Hip little two-level bar with
studenty ambience and a Cuban theme.

ENTERTAINMENT
Tbilisi has a fairly busy after-dark scene.
Youll find listings in Georgia Today (www
.georgiatoday.ge) and The Messenger (www
.messenger.com.ge) and online at etbilisi.com
and www.info-t bilisi.com.

Live Music
Many Georgians seem to think music is best
heard while eating, so while a lot of restaurants

GEORGIA

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64

TBILISI Enter tainment

provide musical entertainment (heaven or hell

depending on quality and volume), venues
where you can just go for the music and a
drink are comparatively rare.
To hear traditional Georgian music, you
need to eat at a restaurant with this kind of
entertainment.
Two good bets are Dzveli Sakhli (p64) and
the smart Two-Side (Map p54;%439038; Bambis rigi
7; hnoon-2am).
Some city-centre bars put on live jazz,
rock or blues, starting about 9pm. The best
include the jazz at Caf Kala (p65) and Near
Opera (p65), and the rock at Dublin (p65).
The small, smoky Jazz Club Non Stop (Map pp489;%921664; Akhvlediani 6; admission free-10 GEL) and the
larger, purpose-built Blues Brothers (Map pp48-9;
%931226; www.bluesbrothers.ge; Rustaveli 38; admission
free-10 GEL) are both dedicated to live jazz and

blues (from 9pm most nights), but atmosphere

and musical quality are hit or miss.

Nightclubs
Theres now a handful of good DJ clubs,
though most of them shut up shop during
July and August, when the scene migrates
to Batumi.
oNight Office (Map p54;%923016; admission 15-35 GEL; hfrom 10pm Fri & Sat) This hi-tech,
laser-illuminated space under the Baratashvili
Bridge, with three bars and room for 1000
clubbers, is the top party spot in town.
International guest DJs fly in many weekends. You can dance to almost any electronic
beat here, including breakbeat, house and the
locally popular minimal.
Traffic (Map pp48-9;%999858; Leonidzis chikhi 1;
h7pm-last customer) Down an alley near Tavisuplebis moedani, this LA-style lounge is popular with locals and expats. DJs spin electronic
music till very late.
Tunnel Club (Map p54;%898177715; Asatiani 30;
admission 15 GEL; hfrom 10pm) Popular club set
inside a former nuclear shelter in the hill
below Mother Georgia. The setting is certainly
unique and the dance floor must be one of the
longest and thinnest in the world.
Switch (Map pp48-9;%899119655; Rustaveli 37; admission 20-30 GEL; hfrom 11.30pm Fri & Sat) Another top
club, with minimal and other techno beats
and occasional headline guest DJs.
Maidans Club (Map p54;%751188; Rkinis rigi 6;
h7pm-5am) Convenient if you dont want
to move far from the Old Town bars, this
place offers cocktails and DJs in a long space

lonelyplanet.com

with two dance areas and ample outdoor

loungers too.

Theatre & Dance

Georgias great drama tradition continues to
thrive, and Tbilisi has far more active theatres than most cities its size. Foreign plays,
including Shakespeares, are as popular as
ever nearly always in Georgian, though the
Rustaveli Theatre offers simultaneous English
translation for some shows.
Most theatres close during July and
August.
Georgias top folk song and dance groups,
such as Erisioni and the Sukhishvili Georgian
National Ballet, spend much of their time
touring overseas, but if they happen to be
performing in Tbilisi their spectacular shows
are well worth the money.
Rustaveli National Theatre (Map pp48-9;%936583;
www.rustavelitheatre.ge; Rustaveli 17; admission 5-25
GEL) The biggest theatre, headed by Robert Sturua,
internationally famous for his interpretations of Shakespeare and Brecht.
Paliashvili Opera & Ballet Theatre (Map pp48-9;
%206040; www.opera.ge; Rustaveli 25; admission 10-50
GEL) Opera, ballet and classical concerts regularly play to
full houses here.
Nabadi Theatre (Map pp48-9;%989991; Rustaveli
19; admission 35-68 GEL) Doubtless with tourists in mind,
Nabadi presents a show of music, dance and song about
Georgian legends and culture, with some food and wine
thrown in. Not bad.
Marjanishvili Theatre (Map pp48-9;%953582;
Marjanishvili 8; admission 7-10 GEL) Another of the top
drama theatres, recently refurbished.

Cinema
In general-release cinemas nearly all films
are dubbed into Russian. Kino Sakhli (Kolga; Map
pp48-9; %988326; kolga.geoweb.ge; Dzmebi Kakabadzeebi
2; admission 5 GEL) shows foreign films in their

original language (usually English), or

Georgian or Russian films with English
subtitles, at 8pm on Monday, Wednesday
and Friday.

Gay & Lesbian Venues

The one acknowledgedly gay (or gay/mixed)
bar is Success (Map pp48-9; %998230; Vashlovani 3;
spirits & cocktails 5-10 GEL; hnoon-5am), which is
less stylish than it was. But several other
bars and cafs are gay-friendly, including
Le Caf (p65), opposite Success, and Caf
Kala (p65) in the Old Town.

lonelyplanet.com

SHOPPING
Tbilisi doesnt rank with Paris or Milan as a
shopping destination, but youll find a selection of distinctive products from dolls to
artworks, carpets to wine that will serve as
great mementos. Interesting shops are dotted
along Rustaveli and in the Old Town.
Dry Bridge market (Map pp48-9; 9 March Park;h8am1pm Sat & Sun) is the most interesting market.
Youll find all kinds of knick-knacks and
charming miscellanea from art, accordions,
samovars and electrical gadgets to china, glass
and silver being sold off by impoverished
old folk.
Old Carpets & Kilims (Map pp48-9; Rustaveli 32;
h10am-6pm) Come here for a variety of rugs
from Georgia and around, and Central Asian
suzani textiles. Be prepared to haggle.
Gallery Artgasm (Map pp48-9; Rustaveli 34; h11am9pm) In the courtyard next to Prosperos
Books, this gallery offers a range of funky
items, from copper sculptures and enamelled
jewellery to embroidered bags. All created by
Tbilisi designers.
Georgian Souvenirs (Map pp48-9; Rustaveli 18;
h10am-7pm) Some of the stock here veers
towards the kitsch, but the icons, dolls and
puppets are eye-catching, and the decorative
wine bottles are full! Its the spot if youre
hankering for a Caucasian sword.
Carpet Shop (Map p54; Leselidze 27; h11am-8pm)
This unnamed shop halfway down the hill on
Leselidze boasts carpet nice; price nice, and
has an array of rugs from across the region.
Locals shop here, so it must be good.
Meidan 91 (Map p54; %723546; Gorgasalis moedani;
www.meidan91.wanex.net; h 10am-7pm) Touted
as the oldest carpet shop in the Caucasus,
Meidan 91 is an Aladdins cave of carpets,
samovars, pewter and antique regional dress
from across Georgia.
Green Sun Souvenirs (Map p54; Erekle II 11; greensun
.etbilisi.com;h11am-11pm) This place offers a range
of interesting knick-knacks, from figurines to
embroidered scarves.
Dom Vina (Map p54; Leselidze 55; h10am-7pm) A
bountiful wine cellar offering up tipples from
across Georgia.

GETTING THERE & AWAY

Air

Tbilisi airport (%433121/41), 15km east of the

centre, has a modern terminal opened in
2007 and a growing range of international
flights (see p320 for more information).

TBILISI Shopping

67

There were no domestic flights at research

time, though Batumi and Mestia flights are
constantly talked about.
Airline offices in Tbilisi include the
following:
Air Baltic (Map pp48-9; %932829; www.airbaltic.com;
Berika Travel Agency, Kostava 14)

Airzena Georgian Airways (Map pp48-9; %485560;

www.georgian-airways.com; Rustaveli 12)
Austrian Airlines (Map pp48-9; %774506; www.aua
.com; Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel, Telavi 20)
AZAL (Azerbaijan Airlines; Map p56; %251669; www
.azal.az; Chavchavadzis gamziri 28)
BMI (Map pp48-9; %940719; www.flybmi.com;
Tavisuplebis moedani 4)
Georgian National Airlines (Map pp48-9; www
.national-avia.com; %922020; Rustaveli 5)
Lufthansa (Map p56; %243324; www.lufthansa.com;
Paliashvili 16)
SCAT (Map pp48-9; %921800; www.scat.kz; Contact
Travel Agency, Ingorokva 12)
Turkish Airlines (Map pp48-9; %959022; www
.turkishairlines.com; Davit Aghmashenebeli 147)
Ukraine International Airlines (Map pp48-9; www
.flyuia.com; %433555; Ekaladze 3)

Bus & Marshrutka

Tbilisi has three long-distance bus and
marshrutka stations: Didube (the main
hub for national transport), Ortachala (for
Kakheti, Armenia, Turkey and Greece) and
the main train station (for western Georgia
and further Yerevan services). See destination sections later in this chapter for further
schedule details and remember its all
subject to change!
Didube bus station (%347239; Tsereteli; mDidube)
is a sprawling chaos outside Didube metro
station. In the first yard you reach, just outside the exit tunnel from the metro, youll
find marshrutkas to Gardabani, Borjomi,
Bakuriani and Akhaltsikhe. A second
yard, straight ahead from the metro tunnel, then across a small road and behind a
line of buildings, is the departure point for
marshrutkas to Mtskheta and Kazbegi, and
the bus to Barisakho. For further services
walk 300m to the right along the abovementioned small road. Here youll find the
Okriba bus station on your left, with buses
to Kutaisi, and two chaotic yards on your
right, with marshrutkas to Gori, Kutaisi and
Batumi and further marshrutkas to Borjomi
and Akhaltsikhe. Buses to Gori leave from
the back of the first of these yards.

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Car
Taking a taxi for an intercity trip can be surprisingly inexpensive, especially if shared
between three or four people. Your accommodation can usually organise this for you,
or you can go to one of the bus stations or
the train station, where drivers wait. Typical
one-way fares are 80 GEL to Kazbegi or 100
GEL to Yerevan. A return trip to Davit Gareja
is also around 100 GEL.
If you fancy your chances driving yourself
on Georgian roads, car rental is easy enough
to arrange, though not necessarily cheaper
than taking a car with a driver.
Avis (Map pp48-9;%923594; www.avis.com;
Tavisuplebis moedani 4) Also at the airport.
Cosmo Group (Map pp48-9;%920960; cosmo@gol.ge;
Atoneli 31)
Hertz (Map p54;%987400; www.caucasustravel.com;
Caucasus Travel, Leselidze 44)

Train

5.50/11 GEL, eight hours, 9.30pm) and the

night train to Batumi (3rd/2nd/1st-class
15/23/40 GEL, eight hours, 10pm). This
Batumi sleeper, with air-conditioned 1st- and
2nd-class compartments, is another train for
which its advisable to book ahead. Note that
Batumi appears as Makhinjauri (the exact
location of its station) on some timetables.
Day trains include the 8.50am to Batumi
(20 GEL, eight hours), the 2.45pm to Poti (8
GEL, six hours), both with 3rd-class seating
only, and the 9.15am to Kutaisi (3rd/2nd-class
5/10.50 GEL, 5 hours) and Zugdidi (3rd/
2nd-class 6/11.50 GEL, eight hours). Theres
also an 11.40pm departure to Poti.
Elektrichky (electric trains with seating
only) run from Tbilisis Borjomi station,
next door to the main station, to Borjomi (2
GEL, 4 hours) at 7.15am and 4.55pm, and
to Kutaisi (3.50 GEL, 5 hours) at 4.10pm.
For these you pay on the train.
All the above domestic trains stop at Gori,
and most at Mtskheta.
See p327 for general information on train
travel in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

GETTING AROUND

To/From the Airport

TBILISI METRO

Akhmeteli

Sarajishvili

Guramishvili
Ghrmaghele
Didube
Elektrodepo
Nadzaladevi

ri

eli

iku

Gotsiridze
Sameditsino
Instituti

ret

Vagzlis Moedani
Marjanishvili

Rustaveli
Tavisuplebis Moedani
Avlabari
li

rke

Va

300 Aragveli

ori

mg

Sa

ni

Isa

Buses (0.40 GEL) and marshrutkas (0.50

GEL) provide an effective above-ground
complement to the metro, though their

The deep, dank Tbilisi metro is the standard fast, efficient Soviet system seen all over
the ex-USSR.
It operates from 6am to midnight with
a flat fare of 0.40 GEL, and the two lines
connect you to most important parts of the
city, meeting at Vagzlis Moedani station. A
third line appears on the official maps, but
a shortage of funds makes its construction
highly improbable for now.
The stations of most use to visitors are
Tavisuplebis Moedani (Freedom Sq, for
the Old Town), Rustaveli (city centre),
Marjanishvili, Vagzlis Moedani (main train
station) and Didube (main bus station).

kn

BUS & MARSHRUTKA

METRO

Tse

Public Transport

69

route boards are in Georgian only. Useful

services are mentioned where appropriate
elsewhere in this section.
While buses only stop at predetermined
stops, you can get on and off marshrutkas
anywhere along their route. Pay when you
get off. To get the driver to stop, yell out
gaacheret! (stop!).

lite

Bus 37 (0.40 GEL, half-hourly, 7am to 7pm)

runs between the airport and the train station. The route into town is via Ketevan
Tsamebulis gamziri on the east side of the
Mtkvari, then Tavisuplebis moedani, Rustaveli
and Melikishvili in the city centre.
Going out to the airport, one of its stops
is at Rustaveli 26, opposite the Opera House.
From 7pm to 8.30pm there are a few services just between the airport and Samgori
metro station.
A new rail link between the airport and
Tbilisis main train station was almost ready
as this book went to press. The ride to the
city will take 20 minutes, with trains running
about every 40 minutes.
The official taxi fare from the airport to the
city centre or vice versa is 25 GEL (30 GEL at
night), but going from the city to the airport,
a taxi hailed on the street will probably charge
20 GEL.

TBILISI Getting Around

Po

Tbilisis main train station (Map pp48-9; %566253,

993253; Vagzlis moedani) is the railway hub of
Georgia. Trains from Tbilisi are generally
slower, less frequent, more comfortable and
a bit cheaper than marshrutkas and buses.
The station is due for rebuilding but meanwhile remains a slightly confusing place.
Schedule information is currently available at
the left-hand end of the line of ticket windows.
Some is also given in English on www.info
-tbilisi.com and (in Georgian) on the Georgian
Railway site (www.rail way.ge).
The only international trains are the overnight sleepers to Baku and Yerevan. The train
to Baku (2nd/1st-class 40/78 GEL, 14 hours)
leaves at 5.15pm daily. Given the shortage of
road transport from Tbilisi to Azerbaijan, this
is the most convenient way to get to Baku and
to stops en route such as Gnc. The train to
Yerevan (4th/3rd/2nd/1st-class 12/16/24/45
GEL, 15 hours) however takes a painfully
slow, roundabout route via Vanadzor and
Gyumri, and only runs every two days (on
odd dates from Tbilisi to Yerevan and on even
dates from Yerevan to Tbilisi) . It leaves Tbilisi
at 3.40pm.
Tickets for the Baku and Yerevan trains are
sold at window 7 in the main train station. Its
advisable to book a day or two ahead, though
at busy times (eg the summer holiday season)
you might be told the train is fully booked.
Within Georgia, the most useful trains include the night train to Zugdidi (3rd/2nd-class

lonelyplanet.com

azh la
Va ave
h
Ps

Ortachala bus station (%753433; Gulia 1) is something of a backwater, about 2.5km southeast
of the Old Town. From here marshrutkas depart for Yerevan (30 GEL, six hours) via the
Sadakhlo border point, Vanadzor and Sevan,
hourly from 7am to noon. Note that if you
want to get off before Yerevan, you still have to
pay the full 30 GEL fare. Marshutkas leave for
Qax, Azerbaijan (10 GEL, five to six hours),
via the Lagodekhi border crossing, at 8am,
11am and 1pm. A minifleet of four or five
buses run by different companies departs at
noon for Istanbul (US$40, 27 hours) via the
border at Sarpi, Hopa, Rize, Trabzon (US$25,
11 hours) and Samsun. Theres also a minibus to Trabzon (US$25, 11 hours) at 8pm by
Golden Travel (%877457680), and a 6am bus by
zlem Ardahan (%899919958) to Istanbul (US$50,
27 hours) via the Posof border point, Kars,
Erzurum and Ankara. For the truly hardy,
several companies run buses to Thessaloniki
and Athens (100) from Ortachala. You can
reach Ortachala on marshrutka 94 from
in front of Tbilisis Borjomi train station
via Marjanishvili metro station, Vardebis
Revolutsis moedani (lower level), Tavisuplebis
moedani and Gorgasalis moedani. Bus 55 runs
to Ortachala from Vake via Rustaveli (it stops
opposite the Opera House) and Tavisuplebis
moedani, and marshrutka 150 runs between
Didube and Ortachala bus stations.
Further marshrutkas to Yerevan (30 GEL,
six hours) go from the front of the main train
station (Map pp489), on Vagzlis moedani, at
8am, 10am, 1pm and 5pm.
Further marshrutkas and buses to Kutaisi,
Batumi, Zugdidi and Poti depart from a yard
at the back of the main train station (Map
pp489) on Tsotne Dadiani.
There is no bus or marshrutka service from
Tbilisi crossing into Azerbaijan via the Krasny
Most border crossing. If you dont want to
take the train, fly or go via Lagodekhi, you
have various choices.
Take a marshrutka from the main train
station to Krasny Most (4 GEL, one
hour); buses and marshrutkas run from
there to Gnc and Baku.
Get a bus from Lilo market, near Tbilisi
airport, to Krasny Most or beyond.
Get a marshrutka from Tbilisi train station to Marneuli (2 GEL, 45 minutes),
30km south of Tbilisi, where buses
depart for Baku.

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M t k va r i R i v e r

T B I L I S I G e t t i n g T h e re & A w a y

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

68

Taxis are plentiful and almost always unmetered. Agree on the fare before getting in
unless you are so familiar with the city that
you know what your ride will cost. A shortish ride of a couple of kilometres in central
areas costs 2 to 3 GEL; longer rides may be
up to 10 GEL.

AROUND TBILISI

To a non-Georgian, Mtskhetas nearmystical importance in Georgian culture is

hard to describe. Containing some of the
oldest and most important churches in the
country, Mtskheta has been Georgias spiritual heart since Christianity was established
here in about AD 327. It was capital of most
of eastern Georgia from about the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD, when King
Vakhtang Gorgasali switched his base to
Tbilisi. It remained a spiritual capital, however, and Mtskhetas Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
is still the setting for important ceremonies
of the Georgian Orthodox Church. With
an alluring setting where the Mtkvari and
Aragvi Rivers meet, less than 25km from the
centre of Tbilisi, Mtskheta makes a very easy
and enjoyable day trip from the capital.

Zhinvali
Bazaleti

Ruisi
Kareli

Gori

Lake
Bazaleti

M1

Uplistsikhe
Kvakhvreli

Khidistavi

na

Mtkv

r
ive

ari R

Ta

Saguramo

Kaspi

Patara Ateni

Ateni Sioni
Didi Ateni

iver
Jvari
Church

Mtskheta

Kavtiskhevi
Saskhori Dzegvi

Mt Arjevani
(2750m)

Tbilisi
Sea

TBILISI

TRIALETI
Ktsia

Tianeti

Dusheti

SOUTH
OSSETIA

RANGE

Tbilisi
Airport

%37 (international), %27 (domestic) / pop 8000

20 km
12 miles

ve

MTSKHETA

Sights
Dominating the low-rise town is the grand
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (Arsukidze;h8am-10pm).
Its a large (for its time, enormous) building
from the 11th century, early in the golden
age of Georgian church architecture, with an
elongated cross plan, adorned with beautiful
stone carving outside and in.
According to tradition, Christs robe lies
buried beneath the cathedral. Apparently a
Mtskheta Jew, Elioz, was in Jerusalem at the
time of the crucifixion and returned with the
robe to Mtskheta. His sister Sidonia took it
from him and immediately died in a passion of faith. No-one could prise the robe
from her grasp, so it was buried with her.
As years passed people forgot the exact site
of the burial. When King Mirian decided to
build the first church at Mtskheta after his
conversion, the wooden column designed to
stand in the centre of the church could not
be raised from the ground. St Nino, in an
all-night prayer vigil, had a vision of a young
man imbued with fire who raised the column.
Miraculously, the column slowly moved of its
own accord to the burial site of Sidonia and
the robe. The column subsequently worked
many miracles and Svetitskhoveli means
Life-Giving Column.
In the 5th century King Vakhtang Gorgasali
replaced King Mirians original church with
a stone church, whose modest remains are
visible to the left of the cathedral today. The
present building was constructed between
1010 and 1029 under Patriarch Melkisedek,
and, despite being damaged in the 14th century
by Timur, its still one of the most beautiful

0
0

AROUND TBILISI

71

Ri

A cradle of Georgian culture, the region

west, northwest and south of the capital is
known as Kartli, after the mythical father of
the Georgian people, Kartlos, whose progeny
made their home at Mtskheta. Two towns
in particular reflect contrasting sides of the
Georgian story. Nobody can understand
Georgian spirituality without visiting the ancient royal and religious capital of Mtskheta,
just outside Tbilisi. Here St Nino converted
the Iverian kingdom to Christianity in the
4th century. In Gori, Joseph Stalin was born
Iosif Jughashvili in 1878; his influence on the
modern world has been variously calculated
in terms of the tens of millions of deaths in
his notorious Gulags, or as victory against
Nazi Germany in WWII.

The main Gori highway from Tbilisi bypasses

Mtskheta to the east. Coming from Tbilisi to
Mtskheta, youll turn off the highway well
before it passes the town, then drive along
the right bank of the Mtkvari River, before
crossing a bridge into Mtskheta. If you are in
a marshrutka or bus, get off once you draw
level with the large Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
to your right.
The Tourism Information Centre (%322128;
Arsukidze 3; h8am-8pm), with helpful, Englishspeaking staff, stands opposite the main gate
of Svetitskhoveli. Staff can provide guides
in several languages for Mtskhetas sights at
25 GEL per hour best to contact them in
advance for this.

AROUND TBILISI Mtskheta

Aragvi River

TAXI

Orientation & Information

lonelyplanet.com

M6

Tsalka
Reservoir
Nardevani

Tetri
Tsqaro

Tsalka

Rustavi
Marneuli

M4

Bolnisi
Gardabani

Kvemo Bolnisi

VA
KH
RA
ET
NG
I
E

Signs are only in Georgian but the station

name is announced at each stop, and just
before the doors shut the name of the next
station is also announced.

lonelyplanet.com

M6
Kazreti

M7

Patara
Dmanisi

Dmanisi

Krasny
Most

JA

AROUND TBILISI Mtskheta

Guguti

Sadakhlo

Bagratashen

ARMENIA

churches in the country. The defensive wall

around it was built in 1787.
Inside, Christs robe is believed to lie in
the nave beneath the square, tower-like pillar, which is decorated with colourful frescoes of the conversion of Kartli. The tomb
of Erekle II, king of Kartli and Kakheti from
1762 to 1798, lies directly in front of the altar.
Vakhtang Gorgasalis tomb is behind this,
cordoned off and with a raised flagstone. The
frescoes in the main nave and south aisle date
from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
Two other churches in Mtskheta are well
worth visiting. The tiny but charming Antioki
Church, in the grounds of a nunnery near the
riverbank behind the cathedral, dates from St
Ninos time. Renovated in 2000, it manages

to retain its modest charm despite the recently

painted frescoes. The large Samtavro Church
(Davit Aghmashenebelis qucha; h9am-7pm) is also now
part of a nunnery. Once the palace church
of the lords of Mtskheta, it was built in the
1130s. King Mirian and his wife, Queen Nana,
are buried in the southwest corner, under
tombstones from the early 20th century.
The little church in the Samtavro grounds,
Tsminda Nino, dates from the 4th century
and stands on a spot where St Nino is said
to have prayed.
Mtskheta Museum (% 899223181; Davit Aghmashenebelis qucha 54; admission 0.50 GEL; h10am5pm Tue-Sat) has an interesting collection of

finds from archaeological excavations in

the Mtskheta area, labelled in both English

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

70

AROUND TBILISI Mtskheta

0
0

MTSKHETA
B

INFORMATION
ATM..................................1 C2
ATM..................................2 C2
Tourism Information
Centre...........................3 C2

D1
C2
C3
A2

EATING
Kafe Bari..........................13 C2
TRANSPORT
Bus & Marshrutka Stop....14 C2
Bus & Marshrutka Stop....15 C2

Ioa

7
ne
quchPetritsis
a
14

a
ch

Davit Aghmashe
nebelis
chikhi

Mtkvari

River

qu

To Gori
(75km);
Kazbegi
(146km)

Teatron
Park

Town
Hall

15

Arsukidzis
qucha

M1
4
11

Train
Station

Mtkvari

and Georgian. Highlights include jewellery

and an elaborately worked bronze ritual belt
from the Bronze Age, perfume vials from the
2nd to 5th centuries AD, and a miniature
mother-of-pearl Iranian sun temple from
the 3rd or 4th century AD, found in the
Samtavro cemetery.
Bebris Tsikhe, Mtskhetas castle, was built
in the early feudal period to protect the
towns northern approaches. Its a romantic ruin situated at the north end of
Davit Aghmashenebeli, about 1.2km past
Samtavro Church.
JVARI CHURCH

Visible for miles around on its hilltop overlooking Mtskheta from the east, Jvari Church
(h9am-10pm) is to many Georgians the holiest of holies, the countrys spiritual heart.
Jvari, or the Holy Cross Church, stands
where a sacred wooden cross was erected in
the 4th century (either by St Nino before she
converted Mtskheta, or by King Mirian soon
afterwards). In the 6th century Guaram, the
eristavi (duke) of Kartli, built a small, simple
church beside the cross. Between 585 and

Rive

To Restaurant Tamariani (3km);

Jvari Church (8km); Tbilisi (22km)

lonelyplanet.com

or supervision) in Teatron Park, off Davit

Aghmashenebeli towards Bebris Tsikhe.
The tourist office offers details of about
15 homestays, for which it can arrange
bookings. Two good ones are the houses
of Manana Markarashvili (%899116862; Arsukidze
85; per person incl dinner 20 GEL, breakfast 5 GEL), 300m
from Svetitskhoveli, and Gulo Merebashvili
(%322636; Arsukidze 15; per person 20-25 GEL), facing
Svetitskhoveli. The modern Mtskheta Palace
Hotel (%32-910202; fax 32-911717; Davit Aghmashenebelis
chikhi; r incl breakfast 150-200 GEL; as) is quite
palatial but rather devoid of atmosphere.

Eating

ha
uc
a
sq
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eli
qu
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s
n
a
e
3 8
r
e
t
h
tav
s
Pe
as
o
K10
m
Davit Agh
13
2
Gamsakhurdias
qucha
lis

rie

e
Ib

12

er
vi Riv

C2
D3
C2
C2
C2

SLEEPING
Teatron Park..................... 9
Gulo Merebashvili...........10
Manana Markarashvili.....11
Mtskheta Palace Hotel.....12

800 m
0.5 miles

Arag

SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES

Antioki Church..................4
Jvari Church...................... 5
Mtskheta Museum............6
Samtavro Church...............7
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral....8

To Bebris
Tsikhe (400m);
Bus Station
(3km); Gori (75km);
Kazbegi (146km)

Davit Aghmashe
nebelis qucha

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

To Tbilisi
(22km)

604 Guarams son Stepanoz I constructed

the main church over the cross.
Jvari is a classic of early Georgian tetraconch design. The angles between the four
equal arms of its cross-shaped plan are filled
in with corner rooms, and the low dome sits
on a squat, octagonal drum, with the overall
result of a beautifully symmetrical little building. The interior is rather bare, but from the
church site there are spectacular views over
Mtskheta and the convergence of the Aragvi
and Mtkvari Rivers. The road up to the church
from Mtskheta takes a highly circuitous route;
the easiest way to get there is by taxi (15 to 20
GEL round trip, including waiting time). If
youre feeling fit, you can walk up there from
Mtskheta in about one hour by crossing the
footbridge from Teatron Park, then following a path from the far (east) side of the busy
highway, which winds up to the road behind
the church.

Sleeping
Mtskheta is an easy day trip from Tbilisi, but
there are several accommodation options.
You can camp for free (without any facilities

Mtskheta is famous for its lobio, which can

be found in any local restaurant, served in a
traditional clay pot. Mtskheta is a popular spot
for Tbilisi folk to come for a meal, especially
at weekends, and several establishments cater
to them, though most are several kilometres
out of town, requiring a taxi or marshrutka
ride from central Mtskheta.
Kafe Bari (Gamsakhurdia 17; dishes 2-5 GEL; h10ammidnight) Easily the best of the central options,
this smart little place is a stones throw from
Svetitskhoveli and serves up appetising lobio,
mtsvadi, khinkali, khachapuri and more.
The menu is in Georgian but staff speak a
little English.
Restaurant Tamariani (%32-544412; mains 7-15
GEL; h10am-11pm) About 6km from the centre
on the Tbilisi road, the Tamariani has a lovely
setting on a terrace right by the Mtkvari and

AROUND TBILISI Gori

73

serves a good range of Georgian favourites.

Live music frequently heightens the party
mood of its customers.

Getting There & Away

Marshrutkas to Mtskheta (1 GEL, 30 minutes)
leave Tbilisis Didube bus station every 15 to
20 minutes from about 8am to 8pm. The last
marshrutka to Tbilisi leaves Mtskheta at about
9pm. Elektrichka trains to Gori also stop at
Mtskheta station, although its a 15-minute
walk from there to the centre.

GORI

%370 (international), %270 (domestic) /

pop 50,000

To all Georgians, Gori is synonymous with

just one man: this is the town where Iosif
Jughashvili later Joseph Stalin was born
and went to school. Place of pilgrimage or macabre monument to Stalins enduring popularity in his homeland, Gori is an intriguing
place. Theres an abundance of older historical
attractions within easy striking distance, making an overnight stay a good idea, though it
can also be done in a day trip from Tbilisi.

Orientation & Information

The town is dominated by various paeans to
its best-known son: the main street is broad
Stalinis gamziri (Stalin Ave), running south
towards the Mtkvari River. The large Stalinis
moedani (Stalin Sq), with its tall Stalin statue,
opens out at the junction with Chavchavadze,

ST NINO & THE CONVERSION OF GEORGIA

While some of the legends that have grown up around St Nino are ridiculously far-fetched, there is
no doubt that Nino is the historical figure to whom the 4th-century Christian conversion of Iveria
(eastern Georgia) can be attributed. Nino is generally believed to have hailed from Cappadocia in
eastern Turkey and a widespread version has it that she was the daughter of a Roman general,
Zabulon, and was also related to St George. Other accounts aver that she was a slave girl. The
most common account of her youth has it that she was brought up in Jerusalem under the eye
of an uncle who was Patriarch of Jerusalem, and at the age of 14 experienced a vision of the
Virgin Mary telling her that her destiny was to convert the Iverians to Christianity.
Coming to Iveria in the 320s, Nino won respect from the people by her good deeds and the
miracles she performed. But it was only at Mtskheta, when her prayers managed to save Queen
Nana of Iveria from serious illness, that she won a royal convert. King Mirian was harder to convince, until he was struck blind while hunting, only for his sight to be miraculously restored after
he prayed to the Christian God leading to mass baptism in the Aragvi River for the townsfolk
of Mtskheta. Mirian made Christianity the official religion of Iveria in about AD 327. The vine-leaf
cross that the Virgin allegedly gave Nino (and which Nino later bound with her own hair) is still
kept at the Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi. She remains Georgias most venerated saint, and is buried
at Bodbe Convent in Kakheti (p113).

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

72

AROUND TBILISI Gori

and the large Stalin Museum complex and

park are a short trot further north. The bus
station is at the west end of Chavchavadze,
500m from Stalinis moedani; the train station
is across the Mtkvari from the south end of
Stalinis gamziri. Youll find a few ATMs along
Stalinis gamziri.

Sights
STALIN MUSEUM

Possibly the most interesting museum in

Georgia, the Stalin Museum (%75215; www.stalin
museum.ge; Stalinis gamziri 32; admission incl photo permission
and guide in English, German or French 15 GEL, video permit 400
GEL;h10am-6pm) is an impressive 1957 building

that exudes a faintly religious air. The visit

includes the tiny wood-and-mud-brick house
where Stalins parents rented the single room
in which they lived for the first four years of
his life. This stands in front of the main museum building, perfectly preserved and with
its own temple-like protective superstructure.
The rest of the poor neighbourhood in which
it stood was demolished in the 1930s as Gori
was redesigned to glorify its famous son.
The museum charts Stalins journey from
the Gori church school to the Yalta Conference
at the end of WWII and his death in 1953.
Whats missing is any attempt at a balanced
portrayal of Stalins career. This is a purely
selective exhibition telling the glorious tale of
a brave local lad who rose to the highest office
in the land and defeated Hitler. No mention

lonelyplanet.com

of the purges, the Gulag, the Ukraine famine

or Stalins 1939 pact with Hitler.
The first hall details Stalins childhood and
adolescence, including his rather cringeworthy
pastoral poetry. The emphasis quickly shifts to
his political work and revolutionary activities
in the Caucasus, organising unions in Tbilisi
and setting up an illegal workers press in
Batumi at the end of the 19th century.
Stalins involvement with Lenin is then
thoroughly detailed, taking us through the
revolution of 1905, Stalins Siberian exile,
the revolution of 1917, the Civil War and
Lenins death in 1924. The first hall does
display the text of Lenins 1922 political testament that described Stalin as too coarse
and power-hungry and advised Communist
Party members to remove Stalin from the
post of General Secretary, but your guide is
unlikely to draw this to your attention. Two
other key players in Stalins life Trotsky and
Khrushchev remain unsurprisingly absent
from the displays.
One room is devoted to Stalins eerie death
mask, lying in state, while the next one is
full of tributes and gifts to Stalin from world
leaders and other senior Bolsheviks. Off the
staircase leading downstairs, another room
contains more gifts presented to Stalin and a
reconstruction of his first office in the Kremlin
(which he occupied from 1918 to 1922).
To one side of the museum (and included
in the tour) is Stalins train carriage, in which he

JOSEPH STALIN & GEORGIA

Few peoples historical legacy is simultaneously greater and more uncertain than that of Iosif
Jughashvili, the Gori cobblers son who went on to rule the largest country on earth for a quarter
of a century. Few would question his achievements: were it not for the Soviet role in WWII, Nazi
Germany would probably have won, and in the space of a decade he turned the Soviet Union
from a peasant economy into a vast industrial powerhouse taking it with the plough and
leaving it with nuclear weapons, as Churchill observed.
Yet the suffering of millions cannot be forgotten. Stalins Gulags were responsible for the
deaths of many millions, and his ruthless Cheka and NKVD (both secret police) terrorised the
population from the late 1920s until Stalins death in 1953. Nor did Stalins Georgian origins
translate into mercy for his own people the purges in Tbilisi left mass graves in what is now
the bourgeois suburb of Vake.
In a country that is still recovering from post-Soviet chaos, and where many still do not reap
much material benefit from capitalism, its perhaps not surprising that some still say they would
like to see another Stalin in charge. While they dont seem blind to his faults, people simply prefer
to focus on his achievements and the fact that here was a Georgian who, for better or worse,
ruled a great power and was one of the key figures of 20th-century history. Portraits, busts and
statues of Stalin can be found in all corners of Georgia, and while few are new or even in good
condition, there is no sign of them disappearing yet.

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

AROUND TBILISI Around Gori

75

travelled to the Yalta Conference in 1945 (he

didnt like flying). Apparently bulletproof, it
has an elegant interior that includes a bathtub
and a primitive air-conditioning system.

A taxi from the centre costs 4 or 5 GEL. When

leaving you can flag down a Tbilisi marshrutka
at the end of the driveway.

GORI FORTRESS

Cake House (Stalinis gamziri 22; pizzas 4.50 GEL; h9am10pm) A pine-panelled caf serving khachapuri and reasonable pizza. Its between the
museum and Stalinis moedani.
Restaurant Intourist (%74433; Stalinis gamziri 26;
dishes 2-5 GEL; h9am-midnight) Attached to the
Hotel Intourist, facing the park in front of
the museum, this offers all the Georgian
standards in a calm environment.
Nikala (%70824; Stalinis gamziri 4; dishes 2-6 GEL;
h24 hr) Spacious Nikala, 400m south of
Stalinis moedani, serves up tasty Georgian
salads, cheeses, fowl (including quail) and
meat dishes at very good prices. The khbosostri (veal stew with sour plums) is superb. It has
an English-language menu and helpful staff.
Gori Restaurant (%70818; Gori-Tbilisi Hwy, 3rd km;
mains 4-10 GEL; h8am-midnight) The restaurant at
this modern hotel 4km from town (4 or 5 GEL
by taxi) is the best around Gori, with satisfying, well-prepared Georgian dishes, and a nice
outdoor terrace if you prefer to steer clear of
the live music inside.

The heart of Gori is the ancient fortress (admission free; h24 hr), an oval citadel atop the big hill
west of the Stalin Museum. The walk to the
top is easy; from the Hotel Intourist, cross the
square and keep going until you reach the foot
of the hill, from where a newly cobbled path
leads up to the gate. There are fine views from
up here and its particularly attractive late in
the day when the sun is setting.
A fortification existed here in ancient
times and it is believed to have been besieged
by Pompey in 65 BC. Most of the present
building dates from the Middle Ages, with
additions from the 17th century.

Sleeping
Homestay (Kristeporek Kasteli 8; per person 10 GEL) Those
on a tight budget can try this basic homestay
option just below the fortress. To get there
from the bus station, take the first street to
the left off Chavchavadze as you head towards
Stalinis moedani, then the first right, then
the first left, and turn left at the end. The
house is at the far end of this street, where
the asphalt turns to sand. Its no luxury option; no food is available and no-one in the
family speaks English, but that shouldnt be
a major obstacle.
Hotel Intourist (%72676; Stalinis gamziri 26; r 50 GEL)
Most travellers stay at the Intourist, a large
building near the museum. Only one floor
of rooms is open, but the available rooms are
quite palatial, with marble pillars, parquet
floors and comfortable-enough rooms. The
plumbing needs work, though: water (hot
or cold) is only available for five (separate)
hours each day.
Hotel Victoria (%75586; fax 70050; Tamar Mepi 76;
s/d/tr 65/65/90 GEL, ste 120-140 GEL; a) The best
hotel in the town, 200m off southern Stalinis gamziri, is a modern place offering large
rooms with sitting areas, TV and air-con,
and is decent value for money. Breakfast is
available for 7 GEL.
Gori Hotel (%70818; Gori-Tbilisi Hwy, 3rd km; r/ste
incl breakfast 80/140 GEL; a) Set just back from
the Tbilisi highway about 4km from town,
this is worth considering as it has modern,
carpeted rooms and the areas best restaurant.

Eating

Getting There & Away

Marshrutkas to Gori (4 GEL, 1 hours) leave
from Tbilisis Didube station about every 40
minutes, from 7.30am to 4.30pm. Buses (3.50
GEL, two hours) go as late as midnight. All
westbound trains from Tbilisis main station
or the Borjomi station next door stop at Gori,
taking 1 to two hours.
Goris bus station is at the end of Chavchavadze, 500m west of Stalinis moedani.
Marshrutkas (4 GEL, 1 hours) and buses
(3.50 GEL, two hours) to Tbilisi leave Gori
about every 40 minutes until 6pm; marshrutkas to Kutaisi (8 GEL, three hours) go at
7.30am and 9.30am.

AROUND GORI

Uplistsikhe
This impressive and once enormous cave city
(admission 10 GEL, guide in English 10 GEL; h9am-6pm), on
the north bank of the Mtkvari, 10km east of
Gori, is one of the oldest places of settlement
in the Caucasus. Uplistsikhe was founded in
the late Bronze Age, around 1000 BC, but developed mainly from the 6th century BC to the
1st century AD. This was one of the principal

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

74

columns probably originally a sun temple,

used for animal sacrifices, and later converted
into a Christian basilica.
The 10th-century church near the top
of the hill is the Uplistsulis Eklesia (Princes
Church). This triple-church basilica was also
built over a pagan temple, probably the most
important one.
On your way back down, dont miss the
long tunnel running down to the Mtkvari
River an emergency escape route that could
also have been used for carrying water up to
the city. Its entrance is by a short flight of
narrow metal steps, behind a reconstructed
wall southeast of the Theatre.
GETTING THERE & AWAY

WESTERN GEORGIA Kutaisi

WESTERN GEORGIA
Site of the ancient kingdom of Colchis, and
famous as the destination of Jason and the
Argonauts in their search for the Golden
Fleece, western Georgia has always acted as
a conduit for influences from the west into
the Caucasus, from the Greeks to St Nino to
the Ottoman Turks.
For long periods ruled separately from eastern Georgia, this region was also where the
great united Georgian kingdom of the 11th and
12th centuries got its start. Georgias two largest cities after Tbilisi Kutaisi and Batumi
are here, and the countrys lovely semitropical
Black Sea coast and the border with Turkey

KUTAISI
%331 (international), %231 (domestic) /
pop 180,000

Georgias second city is one of the most ancient in the world. Capital at various times
of several different kingdoms and groups of
kingdoms within Georgia, Kutaisi has a rich
and fascinating history, and much of this is
0
0

WESTERN GEORGIA

30 km
20 miles

To Sukhumi (55km);
Novy Afon (75km);
Psou Border Point (200km)
Ochamchire

Lentekhi

Jvari

Tsageri

Gali

Lajanurhesi

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Sataplia
Reserve

Gelati

Kutaisi

Rioni

Kolkheti
National
Park

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Abasha

Samtredia

Vartsikhe

Dimi

Vani

Lanchkhuti

Maltaqva

Baghdati

Supsa

SEA

Motsameta

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Lake
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National
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SAMEGRELO

Ateni Sioni
This impressively ancient church has a beautiful setting, above a bend of the wonderfully lush Tana valley and surrounded by
high hills and cliffs, 12km south of Gori.
The entry to the church itself is through
an orchard.
Architecturally, Ateni Sioni is modelled
on the Jvari Church at Mtskheta (p72) and
was built in the 7th century. Appealing reliefs of stags, a hunting scene and a knight
were carved into the exterior walls later.
Inside, the 11th-century frescoes, depicting biblical scenes and Georgian rulers, are
among the finest medieval art in the country. They have been painstakingly preserved
to prevent further fading, although there are
no plans to restore them to their full former
glory, as it is precisely their ancient nature
that makes them interesting.
A taxi from Gori to the church and back
should cost about 30 GEL, or 50 GEL if
combined with Uplistsikhe. Alternatively,
take a bus from Gori bus station (0.70 GEL,
30 minutes, hourly from 7am to 6pm).

77

ensure a steady stream of visitors. The coast,

especially vibrant, charming Batumi, has
become a dynamic holiday and commercial
area since Georgian independence. Theres
still a standoff in Abkhazia, where civil war
and secession have caused enormous tragedy
and suffering.

ve

The easiest way to visit Uplistsikhe is by taxi

from Gori the return trip including waiting time normally costs 30 GEL. Marshrutkas
leave Gori bus station a few times a day for
Kvakhvreli (1 GEL, 20 minutes), the village
across the Mtkvari River from Uplistsikhe. Its
about a 2km walk from village to site, as you
have to go downriver to a bridge then back
along the other side. Gori-bound elektrichka
trains, currently leaving Tbilisis Borjomi station at 7.15am, 4.10pm and 4.55pm, take 1
hours to reach Kvakhvreli (2 GEL).

lonelyplanet.com

Ts

political and religious centres of pre-Christian

Kartli, with temples dedicated principally to
the sun goddess. Archaeological findings from
the 4th to 6th centuries AD speak of an ongoing struggle between Christians and adherents
of the old religion.
After the Arabs occupied Tbilisi, Uplistsikhe
became the residence of the kings of Kartli.
A main caravan road from Asia to Europe
ran just north of the city, which became an
important trade centre with 20,000 people at
its peak. Uplistsikhes importance declined
after King David the Builder retook Tbilisi
in 1122 and it was irrevocably destroyed by
the Mongols in 1240, along with its natural
surroundings there used to be forests here.
What you visit today is the 40,000-sq-metre
Shida Kalaki, or Inner City, constituting less
than half of the original whole. Almost everything here has been uncovered by archaeologists since 1957, when only the tops of a few
caves were visible.
Uplistsikhe is strategically located, with a
deep valley to the east and cliffs to the west.
Entering the main part of the site, you pass
through what was the main gate, at the head
of a small ravine, then wind your way up the
main street. Over to the left, on the southwest
edge of the site overlooking the river, youll see
a cave with a pointed arch carved in the rock
above it. Inside, the ceiling is carved with octagonal designs in a similar style to Caracallas
Baths in Rome. Known as the Theatre, this is
probably a temple dating from the 1st or 2nd
century AD, where religious mystery plays
may have been performed.
Further up the street and down to its right
is the large pre-Christian Temple of Makvliani,
with an inner recess behind an arched portico.
The open hall in front of the portico has stone
seats for priests, and two rounded holes in the
floor for the blood of sacrificial animals.
A little further up on the left is the big
hall known as Tamaris Darbazi (Hall of Queen
Tamar). Here there are two columns built into
the cliff and a stone seat dating from antiquity.
The stone ceiling is cut to look like wooden
beams, and there is a hole to let smoke out
and light in. This was almost certainly a pagan
temple originally, though the great Christian
Queen Tamar may have occupied it later. To
its left is an open area with stone niches along
one side, thought to have once been a pharmacy. On the other side of Tamaris Darbazi is
a large cave building with the remains of four

lonelyplanet.com

AROUND TBILISI Around Gori

Chokhatauri
GURIA

Ureki

Sups

Tskaltashua

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Ozurgeti
Shemokmedi

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Kobuleti

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Mtsvane
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Batumi

Abastumani

Chakvi

ADJARA

Makhinjauri

Keda

Gonio
Kvariati
Sarpi

Ch
Ri orok
ve hi
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Borjomi - Zekari
Kharagauli
Pass
National Park

Achi

Tsikhisdziri

To Il

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

76

Shuakhevi

Khulo

Vale

Acharistsk

ali River

Posof

TURKEY

lonelyplanet.com

0
0

KUTAISI
A

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0.2 miles

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Ukimerioni
Hill

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SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES

Bagrati Cathedral.....................2 C1
Kutaisi History Museum...........3 C2
Market.....................................4 B2
Mtsvane Kvavila Monastery.....5 D2
Davit Aghmashenabelis
Palace-citadel...........................
6 C1
gamziriEATING
Cafe Almano..........................13
Synagogue...............................7 C2
Synagogue.............................. 8 D2
Cafe Exotica...........................14
Delikatessen...........................15
Europa+.................................16
SLEEPING
Beka Hotel................................9 B1
Giorgi's Homestay..................10 B1
TRANSPORT
Gvetadze Homestay.............. 11 D3
Bus 1 to Kutaisi-2...................17
Lali Jalaghanias Guesthouse..12 B2
Buses to Gelati.......................18

11

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B2

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Kutaisi-1

B2
C2
To Vani
(40km)

Kutaisi resumed its role as capital of the

western region when Georgia was again divided in the 15th century after the invasions
of the Mongols and Timur.
In the early 17th century Giorgi III of
Imereti developed the left bank of the
Rioni, but the city suffered a 101-year Ottoman occupation from 1669, during which
Bagrati Cathedral was blown up. In 1770
the city was recaptured by Georgian and
Russian forces.
Under the Soviet regime Kutaisi became
Georgias second most important industrial
centre, and its population grew significantly,
only to shrink again with the decline of its
industries after Georgian independence.

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INFORMATION
Internet caf.............................
1 B2
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Tsiteli
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To Kutaisi-2
Station (2km);
Main Bus
Station (2km)

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5
To
Motsameta (6km);
Gelati (10km)

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lonelyplanet.com

To Zelimkhan
Guesthouse (400m)

Orientation
Kutaisi is built around the Rioni River. The
city centre is on the left bank, focused on
Davit Aghmasheneblis moedani and the adjacent central park. The modern city spreads
mainly to the south and west (across the river)
from the centre. To its north, the right bank
rises up to an older area where the landmark
Bagrati Cathedral overlooks the city.
The main bus station is 3km west of the
centre, beside Kutaisi-2 train station. The
other train station, Kutaisi-1, is 1km south
of the centre.

Information
ATMs are plentiful around the central park,
especially on Tsereteli to its south, and there
are lots of money changers around the market
area just northwest of the park.
Internet caf (Lolo Nutsubizhi 1; per hr 2.40 GEL;
h9am-10pm)

apparent to visitors. The town is attractive and

not without things to see and do, although
most people come to Kutaisi to see the surrounding attractions. Modern Kutaisi is still
struggling economically, however, and is
noticeably less lively than Batumi or Tbilisi.

History
Kutaisi is a very ancient city that has played
several key roles in the Georgian drama. It
was one of the main cities of ancient Colchis,
and a settlement has existed here for nearly
4000 years.
In the 3rd century BC Apollonius of
Rhodes referred to Kutaia in a poem about
the Argonauts, and some scholars believe this
was the city of King Aetes, father of Medea.

At the end of the 8th century AD Leon II,

Duke of Abkhazia, renounced Byzantine suzerainty and declared himself king of Abkhazia,
transferring his capital from Anakopia (in
modern Abkhazia) to Kutaisi. In 1001
Abkhazias King Bagrat III inherited the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartli, effectively
uniting western and eastern Georgia under
one rule for the first time in many centuries.
It was in Kutaisi that David the Builder was
crowned Georgian king in 1089. These two
famous rulers left great architectural monuments in the shape of the Bagrati and Gelati
cathedrals. Kutaisi was the political, economic
and cultural centre of Georgia until 1122,
when Tbilisi took over after David liberated
it from Arab rule.

Sights
Every visitor to Kutaisi will want to see Bagrati
Cathedral, while those with more time will
enjoy visiting the History Museum, wandering the busy market area around Lermontov,
and exploring the attractive central streets and
the old Jewish district.
BAGRATI CATHEDRAL

If you cross the Chachvis Khidi you can walk

up cobbled streets lined with attractive houses
and gardens to the magnificent ruins of the
11th-century Bagrati Cathedral (Kazbegi; admission
free; h9am-8pm) on Ukimerioni Hill.
Bagrati was built by King Bagrat III, the
uniter of western and eastern Georgia. An

WESTERN GEORGIA Kutaisi

79

Arabic inscription (no longer visible) on

the north wall recorded that the floor was
completed in Chronicon 223 (1003). Stone
porches on the western and southern sides
were added later in the 11th and 12th centuries. A great cupola rose over the centre of
the cathedral, but in 1692 a Turkish explosion brought down both cupola and ceiling
to leave the cathedral in a ruined state. The
western porch and the cathedrals eastern,
northern and southern arms have recently
been repaired and the cathedral is again used
for some religious observances.
There are plans to rebuild it fully, but even
in its roofless, part-ruined condition it has
a stately beauty matched by few churches
in Georgia.
The ruined palace-citadel immediately east
of the cathedral dates from the 6th century
and in the 17th century was still reported by
French and Russian travellers to be massively
impressive. In 1769 King Solomon I of Imereti
and the Russian General Todtleben bombarded the castle (which was then occupied
by the Turks) from Mtsvane Kvavila hill across
the river, reducing it to a ruin. What remains
is still of interest: you can see wine cellars at
the west end of the palace, a church in the
middle, and parts of the medieval walls.
KUTAISI HISTORY MUSEUM

This museum (%45691; www.histmuseum.ge; Tbilisi 1;

general exhibition/treasury 2/3 GEL, tour in English or German
5/10 GEL; h11am-4pm Tue-Sat Sep-Jul, to 4pm Sat & Sun
Aug), facing Davit Aghmasheneblis moedani,

has superb collections from all around western Georgia and is well worth your time.
A guided tour is a good idea as labelling
is very poor. The highlight is the Treasury
section, with a marvellous exhibition of icons
and crosses in precious metals and jewels
including a large, reputedly miracle-working
icon from the Bagrati Cathedral.
The rest of the collection ranges from
archaeological finds (including figurines
of fertility gods from the 8th to 6th centuries
BC, one of them famously androgynous),
to medieval weaponry, historical art, manuscripts going back to the 10th century, costumes, musical instruments and even the
first telephone used in Kutaisi.
MTSVANE KVAVILA

Kutaisi used to have one of Georgias largest

Jewish communities but since independence

GEORGIA

WESTERN GEORGIA Kutaisi

Ch

GEORGIA

78

WESTERN GEORGIA Kutaisi

most of the 1000 or so families have emigrated to Israel. A handsome 1880s synagogue
(Gaponov 12) in the old Jewish district is still in
use, but the smaller synagogue (Gaponov 49) further up the street is now disused. The street
leads on up the hill to the Mtsvane Kvavila (Green
Flower) Monastery, with three churches and the
Pantheon where famous Kutaislebi (denizens
of Kutaisi) are buried.

Sleeping
The selection of hotels is poor, but a slew of
homestays fills the gap.
Gvetadze Homestay (%43007; Tbilisi 3rd Lane No 6;
per person 10 GEL) Suliko and Mediko Gvetadze
provide a friendly welcome at their house,
700m east of Davit Aghmasheneblis moedani, in the third lane off Tbilisi. Meals are
available at a modest extra charge, and the
wine flows freely! But the bathroom needs
an overhaul and water is sometimes in short
supply. The house is in the side street opposite
Tbilisi 100.
Giorgis Homestay (%43720, 895591511; giorgihome
stay@mail.ru, giorgihomestay14@yahoo.com; Chanchibadze
14; per person 15 GEL, half board 30 GEL; i) Hospitable,

English-speaking Giorgi Giorgadze and his

family provide clean, plain rooms in their
ample house on Ukimerioni Hill, a short walk
from the Bagrati Cathedral. Theyll make you
feel at home, and Giorgi is full of helpful travel
and sightseeing tips. The shared bathrooms
are sparkling clean and have hot water. The
food is very good.
Beka Hotel (%46923; Debi Ishkhnelebi 26; half board
per person 40 GEL) An impressive white mansion on Ukimerioni Hill with superb views
from the large terrace, the Beka is more
guesthouse than hotel. Run by a friendly
Russian- and Georgian-speaking couple, it
has eight excellent, spick-and-span rooms
with comfy beds.
Lali Jalaghanias Guesthouse (%48395, 899376525;
Debi Ishkhnelebi 18; half board per person 40 GEL) A couple of doors from the Beka, the Jalaghania
house has similarly spacious and comfortable
accommodation. Neighbour Marina speaks
some English.
Zelimkhan Guesthouse (% 22441; Vakhushti
Bagrationi 67; per person incl breakfast 55 GEL) A 15minute walk from the Kutaisi-1 station,
this tall, three-storey, vaguely Art Deco
house has bright rooms and good breakfasts. Its pricier than other options but still
highly recommended.

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

Eating
Kutaisi lacks superb restaurants, but theres
still plenty of opportunity to eat well.
Caf Exotica (Tamar Mepi 15; dishes 2-4 GEL; h9am9pm) A popular spot for Georgian fast food,
including some of the best Adjaran khachapuri this side of Batumi. The prices are
unbelievably cheap.
Europa+ (Paliashvili; mains 4-5 GEL) The best restaurant in the centre, with neatly set tables and
colourful murals. Go elsewhere, though, if you
want to avoid live music with your dinner. Its
in the corner of a courtyard set back from the
street, and a cocktail bar and a beer bar are
part of the same establishment.
Delikatessen (Tamar Mepi 3; dishes 3-6 GEL; h9am10pm) This bright, new, brick-arched place
just off Davit Aghmasheneblis moedani
specialises in good khachapuri and there are
large photos to help you decide which variety
you fancy. It also does cakes, desserts and
Georgian pastries.
Club Almano (Tsereteli; dishes 3-7 GEL) A smarter,
modestly kitsch place just off Davit Aghmasheneblis moedani. Its a restaurant-cum-bar
with a blue-lit mezzanine and tasty Georgian
dishes. For a solid main dish, the ojakhuri
(made from roasted meat and potatoes) is a
good bet.

Getting There & Around

Both buses (10 GEL, four to five hours, about
twice hourly from 8am to 7pm) and marshrutkas (10 GEL, four to 4 hours, at least hourly,
7am to 8pm) to Kutaisi leave from Tbilisi
Didube. Further marshrutkas leave from the
rear of Tbilisi train station hourly from 8am
to 6pm.
Buses and marshrutkas from Kutaisis main
bus station (Chavchavadzis gamziri), next to Kutaisi-2
train station, go to Tbilisi (10 GEL, four to five
hours, hourly from 7am to 7pm), Zugdidi (6
GEL, two hours, half-hourly, 6am to 5.30pm),
Batumi (8 GEL, 2 hours, every 30 or 40 minutes, 6.30am to 5pm), Poti (5 GEL, 2 hours,
hourly, 7am to 6pm) and Borjomi (8 GEL,
three hours, five daily, 8am to 1.30pm).
Of Kutaisis two train stations, Kutaisi-1
(Tamar Mepe) has trains to Tbilisi (five to 5
hours) at 12.30pm (3rd-/2nd-class 5/10.50
GEL) and 12.40am (3rd-class, 4.50 GEL),
and to Zugdidi (four hours) at 12.30pm.
From Kutaisi-2 (Chavchavadzis gamziri) theres an
elektrichka to Tbilisi at 4.55am and a train to
Batumi (four hours) at 5.45pm.

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Kutaisi-2 is also the best place to look for

long-distance taxis.
Bus 1 (0.20 GEL) runs a useful circular
route (in both directions) between Kutaisi2, Kutaisi-1 and the city centre (west end
of Paliashvili). At Kutaisi-2 or the bus station, catch it on the far side of the road
(Chavchavadze), going to the left, for the
quicker route to the centre.
City taxis generally charge 0.60 GEL per
kilometre.

WESTERN GEORGIA Around Kutaisi

81

Motsameta monastery is 6km out of Kutaisi,

off the Gelati road. Take the turning marked
by a photo of the church and follow this track
for a couple of kilometres. This little monastery has a spectacular setting on a cliff-top
promontory above a bend of the Tskhaltsitela
River. The rivers name, meaning Red Water,
derives from an 8th-century Arab massacre.
Among the victims were the brothers Davit
and Konstantin Mkheidze, dukes of Argveti.
Their bodies were thrown in the river, but
the story goes that lions brought them up
to the church where their bones were subsequently kept. In 1923 the local Cheka (secret
police) took the relics to a Kutaisi museum,
with such unfortunate consequences for the
Cheka men that the bones were soon returned
to the church. It is said that if you crawl three
times under the side altar where the bones are,
your wish will be granted.
See the Gelati section (right) for transport
information.

the Ottoman Turks set fire to the complex, but

Bagrat III subsequently restored the monastery, and it was made the seat of a bishop and
the residence of the West Georgian patriarch.
The monks were cast out by the communist
authorities in 1922, but the churches were
reconsecrated in 1988. President Saakashvili
chose Gelati as the site of his inauguration
in 2004.
The interior of the main Cathedral of the
Virgin is among the brightest and most colourful in Georgia. Among the frescoes, painted at
various times between the 12th and 18th centuries, note especially the line of eight noble
figures in the north transept: these include
David the Builder (holding the church) and
Bagrat III (with a cross over his left shoulder). Across the corner to the right of David
are the Byzantine emperor Constantine and
his wife, Helena. The apse holds a famous
1130s mosaic of the Virgin and Child, with
Archangels Michael and Gabriel to the left and
right respectively. The lower part of this was
restored in the Soviet era by painting.
Outside the cathedrals west door is the
smaller Church of St Nicholas, built on top of
an unusual arcaded base, and beyond that,
the roofless remains of the Academy, where
philosophy, theology, sciences and painting
were studied and important chronicles and
translations written. To the left of these, inside
the South Gate, lies David the Builders grave.
David gave orders that he be buried here so
that all who entered the monastery would
step on his huge 3m tomb, a notably humble
gesture for such a powerful man.

Gelati

GETTING THERE & AWAY

Georgians have always had a knack for

choosing the most superb locations for their
churches and this monastery complex, on a
wooded hillside 10km northeast of Kutaisi,
is no exception.
Gelati was founded by King David the
Builder in 1106 as a centre for both Christian
culture and Neo-Platonist learning. King
David invited scholars such as Iaone Petritsi
and Arsen Ikaltoeli to teach here and the
Gelati Academy became, according to medieval chroniclers, a second Jerusalem and
another Athos, albeit superior to it. Many
Georgian rulers were buried here, including
David the Builder himself, Queen Tamar (according to her chronicler, although this is
disputed) and Bagrat III of Imereti. In 1510

Buses to Gelati (0.50 GEL, 30 minutes) leave

from Lermontov behind the big theatre in
central Kutaisi at 11am, 2pm and 5pm, starting back from Gelati at 11.30am, 2.30pm and
5.30pm. These buses pass the Motsameta
turn-off. If youre visiting both places, its a
mostly downhill walk of about one hour from
Gelati to Motsameta, should the bus schedules not suit. Buses to Tqibuli from Kutaisi-1
station (8am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm
and 4.30pm) also pass the Motsameta turning and the turning for Gelati (from which
its an uphill walk of a little over 2km to
the monastery).
A taxi from Kutaisi to Gelati and back
should cost 12 GEL to 15 GEL, slightly more
if you visit Motsameta too.

AROUND KUTAISI

Motsameta

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

80

WESTERN GEORGIA Poti

Vani

%232

The site of this ancient city is 40km southwest

of Kutaisi. Though theres not much to see
at the ruins, the modern museum here, all
labelled in English as well as Georgian, has
spectacular exhibits. The first excavations
here took place in the 1890s, after locals had
reported gold ornaments being washed down
the hill after heavy rains.
Vani (%21602; admission 1.50 GEL; h10am-4pm)
was one of the main centres of ancient Colchis,
flourishing from the 8th century BC until it
was razed to the ground in the 1st century
BC. Some speculate that this could have been
the city of King Aetes, where Jason came in
search of the Golden Fleece.
Archaeologists have found remains of
monumental architecture and opulent burials from the 8th to 1st centuries BC. Strong
brick and mud walls with towers were built
towards the end of this period, when archaeologists think Vani may have become a kind of
temple-city, dedicated principally to the goddess Levcoteia. From this latter era the ground
floor of the museum displays the spear point
of a battering ram, a bronze vessel depicting
Greek gods, and large animal-head temple
carvings. The most remarkable treasures,
however, are on the museums upper floor,

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where you can see fine bronze casts including a statue of a youth, and copies of fabulous
gold adornments with animal designs, whose
originals are in the Museum of Georgia. The
inner upstairs room contains original finds,
including a pair of diadem pendants with
incredibly fine bird decorations.
The site itself has not been developed for
visitors but you can make out some temple
areas, defensive walls and a deep ritual well, as
well as a small city gate and a section of paved
street beside the road below the museum.
Buses and marshrutkas to Vani (2 GEL, 1
hours) leave the bus station next to Kutaisi-2
train station about hourly from 8am to noon,
then every two hours until 6pm. From the
Vani bus station, its about a 15-minute walk
to the large concrete museum building. A taxi
from Kutaisi is 50 GEL return.

POTI

%393 (international), %293 (domestic) /

pop 50,000

Poti, Georgias main port, is one of the most

ancient towns in the country, founded as the
Greek trading colony of Pazisi or Phasis in
the 6th or 5th century BC, although there
is little evidence of this now. Its a pleasant
enough town, visited by travellers for two
main reasons: the ferry to Ukraine, and the

JASON & THE GOLDEN FLEECE

The Ancient Greek myth of the Golden Fleece is known worldwide: Jason, a prince of Thessaly,
responded to his uncle Pelias challenge to go to the land of Colchis, on the eastern shores of
the Black Sea, to find the Golden Fleece. Few realise that the myth relates to real places and
events. Colchis was a historical kingdom occupying most of western Georgia in antiquity. The
Greeks set up trading colonies at places like Phasis (now Poti) and Dioskuria (Sukhumi) in the
6th and 5th centuries BC.
The legend tells that Jason had a special ship, the Argo, built to carry him and 49 other adventurous young Greek rowers, thenceforth known as the Argonauts. After various tribulations,
they reached the kingdom of Colchis and sailed up the Phasis River (the present-day Rioni),
where they were received by King Aetes in his capital (possibly Vani or Kutaisi). Aetes agreed
to give up the fleece if Jason could yoke two fire-breathing bulls to a plough, and then sow the
teeth of a dragon from which a crop of armed men would spring. Jason accepted the challenge
but secretly promised marriage to Aetes daughter Medea, who had conceived a violent passion for him, if she would agree to help him. Medea, who was skilled with magic and potions,
gave Jason a charm which enabled him to survive Aetes tests and to take the fleece from the
dragon that guarded it.
The Golden Fleece itself is related to real mountain traditions: in Svaneti and Racha people
sifted for gold in mountain rivers by placing a sheepskin across the rocks, in which tiny nuggets
of gold would collect. Amazingly, this technique still exists today in the Caucasus.
If the Golden Fleece story grabs your fancy, dig out Tim Severins The Jason Voyage (1986),
about a modern-day row from Greece to Georgia in a smaller replica of the Argo.

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nearby Kolkheti National Park with its

wetlands and bird life.
A centre of the slave trade under Ottoman
occupation in the 18th century, Poti was absorbed into the Russian Empire in 1828. It
developed rapidly after acquiring port status 30 years later: Georgias first railway was
opened in 1871 between Poti and Shorapani,
35km southeast of Kutaisi. The town centre
was laid out with an unusual radial plan centred on its cathedral, modelled on Istanbuls
Hagia Sofia and completed in 1907. Today
Poti has a Georgian navy base as well as a
busy container port.

Orientation & Information

The centre of Poti is Rustavelis rkali (Rustaveli
Circle), a very large roundabout surrounding
the cathedral, with 10 streets radiating from it.
Davit Aghmashenebeli, the main street, runs
northwest across a river to reach a junction
after 1.5km. Here Gegidze, with the Hotel
Anchor and the best selection of places to
eat, heads to the right (east), while the port
is 400m to the west. Kostava runs 600m eastward from Rustavelis rkali to a square which
is the terminus for some marshrutkas and
has the bazari (market) off one corner. The
train station is just north of this square, across
a bridge.
Youll find ATMs scattered on Davit
Aghmashenebeli, Gegidze and Rustavelis
rkali. Theres an internet caf (Davit Aghmashenebeli;
per hr 2 GEL; h10am-9m) opposite Aversi pharmacy, 1km from Rustavelis rkali.

Sleeping
If none of the options in town appeals, there
are further possibilities a few kilometres south
at Maltaqva (p84).
Hotel Kolkheti (Kostava 2; per person 10 GEL) This
hotel facing Rustavelis rkali is very, very
shabby and occupied by refugees from
Abkhazia, but one room with four beds is
usually available for budget travellers. Ask in
room 218, where Julia speaks English. The
only water is stored in the bath, which gets
filled every two or three days.
Apartment (%899777692; Room 12, Gegidze 20; r 30
GEL) Nona Topuria rents out this one-bedroom
apartment for one or two people next to the
Malibu bar. Call her or ask for her at the Trk
Lokantasi restaurant across the street. Make
sure you understand exactly how the wiring
works before you take a shower!

WESTERN GEORGIA Poti

83

Hotel Anchor (%26000; fax 24600; Gegidze 90; s/d incl

breakfast 90/100 GEL; a) The best option is this
modern hotel near the port, with good, clean,
sizable rooms and a decent restaurant. Desk
staff speak a little English.

Eating
Easily the best selection of eateries and bars
is on Gegidze, within stumbling distance of
the port. Most serve food from 9am or 10am
to about midnight. Shore (mains 4-6 GEL), next
door to the Hotel Anchor, with Georgian food
served at indoor and outdoor tables, and Trk
Lokantasi (kebab & salad 15 GEL), with Turkish fare
a bit further along on the opposite side, are
both good bets.

Getting There & Away

In Tbilisi, marshrutkas and buses to Poti (15
GEL, six to seven hours) leave the rear of
the main train station at 9am, 10am, 11am,
12.30pm, 1pm, 5pm and midnight.
Poti has two marshrutka terminals. From
the square next to the market, there are departures to Batumi (5 GEL, 1 hours) every
hour or half-hour from 8am to 9pm, plus
some to Zugdidi.
The other terminal, about 300m west
from the train station along Navsadbuli,
has departures to Zugdidi (5 GEL, 1
hours, about hourly from 10am to 3.30pm),
Kutaisi (5 GEL, 2 hours, about hourly,
7am to 4pm) and Tbilisi (15 GEL, six to
seven hours, at 9am, 1pm and 4pm). Grup
Georgia (%895225445) has buses to Tbilisi (15
GEL, six hours) from its office just across
the bridge north of the market, at 1.30am,
10.30am and 1.30pm.
Trains from Tbilisi to Poti take six hours,
are 3rd-class only, and leave at 2.45pm (seating only, 8 GEL) and 11.40pm (12 GEL).
Departures from Poti to Tbilisi are at 8.45am
and 11.40pm.
The Ukrainian shipping company UkrFerry
operates two passenger ferries a week each
way between Poti and Ilyichevsk, near
Odessa, Ukraine. Its agent in Poti is Instra
(%21998, 21060, 899915696; Gegidze 20; h10am-1pm,
3-5.30pm), 50m from the Hotel Anchor. See

p323 for further information on this service.

The Bulgarian company Intershipping (www
.intershipping.net) operates a weekly passengercarrying vehicle ferry from Burgas to Poti and
back (one-way per passenger/car 150/300,
three days).

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

82

W E S T E R N G E O R G I A K o l k h e t i N a t i o n a l Pa r k

KOLKHETI NATIONAL PARK

%393 (international), %293 (domestic)
This 285-sq-km national park (www.knp.ge) en-

compasses three separate areas of coastline

and wetlands north and southeast of Poti.
Its the southeastern area, focused on Lake
Paliastomi, which is of most interest to visitors, thanks to its large bird population. More
than 190 species have been sighted in the park.
The best months to visit are September and
October, when large and small raptors can be
seen migrating southwards, and January to
May, when swans, geese, ducks, other water
birds and even rare pelicans, storks and booted
eagles gather to winter here. The area is also
a paradise for frogs (the cacophony in the
mating season can be tremendous). Ancient
Greek physician Hippocrates wrote that the
people here lived in the bogs, making houses
out of the materials found here, travelling in
boats, and drinking rainwater. (He also commented that the people were so tall and so fat
you couldnt see their faces!)
The park has an excellent visitors centre
(%23065; Guria 222; h10am-6pm), 4km south of
the centre of Poti on the Batumi road. The
main access to Lake Paliastomi is 1.5km further south along the same road. At the visitors

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centre you can buy an English-language

field guide to the parks birds and organise
pontoon-boat trips on the lake (a two-hour
trip costs between 10 GEL and 40 GEL per
person depending on group size; maximum:
16 people).

Sleeping & Eating

Hotel Paliastomi (%20929; Lake Paliastomi; cottage 20-50
GEL, d 70-120 GEL; a) Right near the lake, 1.5km
south of the visitors centre, this small hotel has
nice new pine-panelled or blue-painted rooms
in its main building, and older but adequate
rooms in brick-and-wood cottages. Theres
no food, but its a short walk to Restaurant
Iasoni, under the same management, on the
corner of the main road.
Visitors centre (%23065; Guria 222; r 50 GEL; a)
The visitors centre has four pleasant pinebuilt rooms available upstairs, all with bathroom, air-con and TV. Theres a caf for
guests, too.

Getting There & Away

Marshrutkas 5 and 20 (0.40 GEL) from Poti
will stop at the visitors centre or the turning to the lake 1.5km further south. You can
pick them up at Akaki heading south off
Rustavelis rkali.

STEWARD OF THE WETLANDS

If all Georgias new generation was like Lasha Nodia, you could be happy that the country was
in pretty safe hands. Educated, aware, ambitious but public-spirited, he also shares the typical
Georgians love of his country and of his local roots in this case the Black Sea port of Poti and
its surrounding countryside.
Lasha is deputy director of the Kolkheti National Park, established in 1998 to protect the wetlands and coasts around Poti. In Soviet times, official policy was to drain the wetlands to eliminate
malaria, but the consequent ecological damage, to an area that is a vital bird refuge and home
to rare semitropical plants, was huge. Our aim now is to keep what is left, says Lasha.
The park faces many challenges, including from villagers whose livelihood depends on its
lands. The arrival of electricity in villages after the Rose Revolution made a big difference, Lasha
comments. This has slowed the rate of wood cutting for fuel in the forests.
Lasha did not come to environmental work from a scientific background. Born in Poti in 1981
and schooled there, he then studied foreign economic relations at Tbilisi State University. His
father has a small printing firm in Poti, and Lashas education, and admirable command of English,
were furthered when he won a place on a training programme with a large printing company
in Hayward, California. On return to Georgia in 2003 Lasha began working for the national park,
initially as manager of the visitor and education programme. A major achievement has been the
completion of the parks handsome new visitors centre, built in 2006 after eight years of planning
and preparation. The park now employs 28 rangers.
Wages for park employees are inevitably low, and Lasha foresees that one day he may move
to work in the private sector. But Ill always continue to work here in a voluntary capacity. This
park is too important to leave behind.

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UREKI
pop 1600

The only genuine sandy beach on the Georgian

coast is at Ureki, 15km south of Poti. Urekis
sand is black because its rich in magnetic
iron; in Soviet times its medicinal properties
saw three sanatoria built here. Today its being
developed as a small Western-standard resort,
largely thanks to the investment of Georgian
tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, so its a good
place to kick back for a day or two if this
appeals to you.
The coast and the resort are 1.5km off the
PotiBatumi highway and the TbilisiBatumi
railway. There are now about a dozen mostly
midsized and midrange hotels fronting the
beach or very near to it. Recommended are
Hotel Albatros (%899503046; www.hotels-tbilisi.com;
Magnetiti; d full board US$65; as), on the seafront;
Hotel Edem (%899101393; d US$40; a), also seafront and with a caf; and Hotel Dzveli Sakhli
(%899560560; ureki2005@yahoo.com; Sanapiro; d full board
US$60; as), a block back from the beach,

with a playground and miniaqua park.

Batumi-bound marshrutkas will drop you
at the Ureki turn-off.

ZUGDIDI

%315 (international), %215 (domestic) /

pop 105,000 (estimated, including internally
displaced persons)

The main city of Samegrelo (Mingrelia),

Zugdidi is 108km northwest of Kutaisi. As
the nearest Georgian city to Abkhazia, it has
had to absorb a particularly high number of
refugees since the 1990s (by some estimates
they have doubled its population) and is a centre for Georgians who favour military action
to regain Abkhazia. It was also from Zugdidi
that deposed President Zviad Gamsakhurdia,
himself a Mingrelian, launched his unsuccessful 1993 rebellion against the Shevardnadze
government. Today Gamsakhurdias statue
stands on the towns central boulevard, which
is named after him.
Despite this troubled recent past, today
Zugdidi is a bustling and (at least outwardly)
pleasant town that sees few travellers except
for those heading for Svaneti, for which
Zugdidi is an essential stepping stone.

Orientation & Information

The central boulevard, Zviad Gamsakhurdias
gamziri, runs southwest to northeast with a
shady park strip along its centre. Rustaveli

W E S T E R N G E O R G I A U re k i

85

runs northwest from the middle of the

boulevard to the train and bus station, 1km
away. About halfway to the station, just
past the busy market and across a river, Gia
Guluas qucha heads north towards a replica
Svan tower. The main departure point for
marshrutkas to Svaneti is on the right of this
street, just before the Svan tower.
Bank of Georgia ATM (Kostava) Next to Hotel Samegrelo; Kostava runs south off Rustaveli one block west of
Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
Computer Service-Centre (Rustaveli 89; internet per hr
1 GEL; h9am-6pm) Half a block off Zviad Gamsakhurdia.

Sights
The palace of the Dadiani family (old lords
of Samegrelo), a castle-like building from the
17th to 19th centuries in a park 500m beyond the north end of Zviad Gamsakhurdia,
is now the Dadiani Museum (%26439; admission
2 GEL; h10am-5pm Tue-Sun). The most unusual
exhibit is one of Napoleon Bonapartes three
bronze death masks, acquired via a 19thcentury marriage between a Dadiani and a
descendant of Napoleons sister. The wooded
botanical gardens beside the park are worth
a stroll.

Sleeping & Eating

Hotel Zugdidi (%54242; Kostava; r 40-60 GEL) One
block along Rustaveli from Zviad Gamsakhurdia then a few steps south on Kostava,
this hotel occupies the top two floors of a
four-storey building. The rooms have bathrooms with showers, and are clean and parquet-floored, but the beds can be lumpy. No
food available.
Hotel Samegrelo (%50745; Kostava 54; r 50-100
GEL; a) Almost opposite the Hotel Zugdidi,
the Samegrelo provides cosy rooms in red
tones with jolly dolphin-motif shower curtains. Some staff speak English and theres
also a decent little restaurant (mains 3 to 4
GEL) with a short but good menu.
o Restaurant Diaroni (% 893517851;
Konstantin Gamsakhurdia 9; mains 7-15 GEL) For a satisfying full meal with friendly, efficient service, look no further than this atmospheric
cellar-like place. A full range of Georgian
and Russian dishes is on offer and theres
an English-language menu. To find it, head
east off the middle of Zviad Gamsakhurdias
gamziri and go 50m to the left along the
first cross-street.

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

84

WESTERN GEORGIA Abkhazia

Getting There & Away

In Tbilisi, marshrutkas (15 GEL, six to seven
hours, every 1 hours, 8am to 5pm) and buses
(12 GEL, seven hours, at 10am, noon, 1pm
and 10pm) to Zugdidi leave from the rear of
the main train station. The night train leaving Tbilisi at 9.30pm (3rd-/2nd-class 5.50/11
GEL) gets you into Zugdidi at 5.30am, in time
to catch a marshrutka to Svaneti the same
morning. The return train departs Zugdidi
at 11.20pm. Theres also a day train to Tbilisi
(3rd-/2nd-class 6/11.50 GEL, eight hours) at
9.50am, and an elektrichka just to Kutaisi at
7.30am. From outside Zugdidis train station,
marshrutkas and some buses leave several
times daily for Kutaisi (6 GEL, two hours),
Poti (5 GEL, 1 hours), Batumi (10 GEL,
three hours) and Tbilisi (12 GEL to 15 GEL,
six hours).
Marshrutkas and jeeps to Mestia in Svaneti
(15 GEL, five to seven hours) leave from near
the Svan tower on Gia Gulua any time from
6am on, once they fill up (which can be with
goods as well as people).
Its a good idea to be there by 8am though
if youre unlucky you might still have to wait
several hours before you get moving. Theyll
take your name and passport number at the
ticket hut with the Mestia sign. Some vehicles
may meet the overnight train from Tbilisi but
may still not leave Zugdidi until the driver has
garnered a full load.
A jeep taxi from Zugdidi to Mestia typically
costs around 20 GEL.

ABKHAZIA
The greatest tragedy to befall Georgia since
its independence is the secession of Abkhazia
and the bloodshed and misery that this has
brought about.
Once the jewel of the Soviet Riviera along
the Black Sea coast, today this de facto independent republic is still struggling to recover from the devastation of the 199293
war, unrecognised by any country and with
only about one-third of its prewar population
of 535,000.
Russian tourism in Abkhazia, however, has
grown fast and by 2007 it was also possible
for other travellers to venture into the region,
although the British Foreign Office (www.fco.gov
.uk) and the US State Department (travel.state.gov)
were still advising against it.
If youre tempted to visit, be aware
that tensions, kidnappings and violence

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have flared up repeatedly over the years,

especially in the border region between
Zugdidi (Samegrelo) and Gali (Abkhazia).
Backpackers have been known to be arrested and interrogated at Sukhumi police
headquarters. There is useful Abkhazia
travel information on the Thorn Tree message board on the Lonely Planet website
(www.lonelyplanet.com).

Information
MONEY

Abkhazias currency is the Russian rouble

(R). You can change cash US dollars, and
in many cases euros, to roubles at banks and
money changers, but Abkhazias few ATMs
only accept Russian Garantbank cards.
TELEPHONE

Abkhazia has the Georgian country code,

%995. If calling from Georgia, dial %8
before the area code, as for an internal
long-distance call.
VISAS

The first step if you want to go to Abkhazia

is to apply for a visa. The best first move is
to telephone the English-speaking Abkhazia
Foreign Ministry (%442-63948/65792/70044; www
.mfaabkhazia.org; fax 442-63445/65792; ulitsa Lakoba 21,
Sukhumi; h9.30am-6pm Mon-Fri). At the time of

research you could apply for the visa by

email or fax using a form available on the
ministrys website. Supposedly within five
days you will then receive a permit to cross
the border on a specific date.
In practice you will probably have to
make follow-up phone calls to the Foreign
Ministry. If you plan to visit in busy July or
August, make first contact a month ahead.
Once inside the country you have to collect your visa (US$20 for 30 days) from the
Foreign Ministry in Sukhumi. You will need
this when you leave Abkhazia.
If you are entering Abkhazia from Russia
(at the Psou border point, considered illegal by Georgia while it is not controlled by
Georgia) you will need to have a doubleentry Russian visa.

Sukhumi

%442 / pop 45,000 (estimated)

Abkhazias capital (Sokhumi in Georgian;

Sukhum or Akua in Abkhaz) has a gorgeous
setting on a bay backed by hills thick with

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WESTERN GEORGIA Abkhazia

87

THE ABKHAZIA CONFLICT

The roots of the Abkhazian conflict are extremely complicated. Many Georgians see the provocative hand of Russia behind it all, but it is also true that Abkhazians had sought separation from
Georgia well before the Soviet Union broke up.
The Abkhaz are linguistically distinct from the Georgians, their language being one of the
northwestern Caucasus group (although Russian is now the most common language in Abkhazia).
During the Middle Ages, Abkhazia was one of the most important kingdoms of Christian Georgia,
but many Abkhaz converted to Islam under Ottoman occupation between the 16th and 19th
centuries. Once Soviet power arrived in 1921, Abkhazia was proclaimed an independent republic
within the USSR, but was then incorporated into the Georgian Soviet Republic in 1936. From the
1930s there was official encouragement for the settling of large numbers of Georgians in the region,
and by 1989 about 46% of Abkhazias population was Georgian, and only some 18% Abkhaz.
During Mikhail Gorbachevs reforms in the 1980s the Abkhaz began to demand more autonomy.
The Abkhazian Supreme Soviet declared Abkhazia a full union republic (separate from Georgia)
in 1990, and real conflict broke out in 1992 when the Georgian National Guard moved into
Abkhazia and ended up occupying Sukhumi. Abkhazia was then plunged into a year of fighting,
with the civilian population suffering terribly. Georgians claimed persuasively that Russian forces
assisted the Abkhaz. In September 1993 the Abkhaz attacked Sukhumi in violation of a truce and
drove the Georgian forces, and Abkhazias entire Georgian population, out of Abkhazia; many
civilians died while crossing the mountains to Svaneti and Samegrelo. Today Georgia still has
approximately 250,000 refugees, the great majority of them from Abkhazia and most of them
living in difficult conditions. Since a ceasefire in 1994, a CIS (in fact Russian) peacekeeping force
has been deployed in Abkhazia, but Russia appears to be helping the breakaway regime not
just militarily but also by granting Russian passports to Abkhazians, opening the railway between
Sukhumi and Sochi, and loosening controls at the RussianAbkhaz border.

luxuriant semitropical vegetation. Much of

Sukhumi is still in ruins, but a lot of restoration is going on.
Ruins of the Greek trading port Dioskuria
lie beneath Sukhumi Bay. After periods of
Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Abkhazian and
Turkish domination, Sukhumi was taken
by the Russians in 1810. By 1989 it had a
population of 120,000, but the city was badly
damaged during the fighting between 1989
and 1993, when its large Georgian population
was driven out.
ORIENTATION & INFORMATION

The main street is prospekt Mira, two to

three blocks inland from the seafront boulevard, naberezhnaya Makhadzhirov. A useful
interactive city map, in Russian, is on the
web at vmlmapsh.narod.ru/xvmlmap.htm.
There are several cybercafs in the central
area, charging around R50 per hour. Travel
agencies offering tours and accommodation
bookings in Abkhazia include Abkhazintur
(% 61643; www.abkhazintur.moy.su in Russian; ulitsa
Abazinskaya 35/11) and Yug (%62410; ugturizm.h12
.ru in Russian; prospekt Mira 69).

SIGHTS

Sukhumi Fort, on the seafront just west of ulitsa

Sakharova, is a Russian rebuilding of a Turkish
fort built on the site of a Roman one.
The Abkhazian State Museum (prospekt Leona
22; h10am-3pm Mon-Fri), with archaeological,
historical and ethnographic collections, and
the Botanical Gardens (ulitsa D Gulia 22; h9am-3pm)
are both well worth visiting. Park Slavy (Glory
Park), between prospekt Mira and ulitsa
Lakoba, is the burial site of many Abkhaz
who died in the 199293 fighting.
Sukhumi Hill, 200m high in the northeast of
the city, gives good panoramas and much of
it is a woodland park.
SLEEPING & EATING

Numerous families rent rooms to tourists.

Staff at the Foreign Ministry, where you must
collect your visa, can probably help you to
find somewhere.
Homestay (ulitsa Akirtava 55, Turbaza district; per person
R200) Travellers have been welcomed here by
the Kvitsinia family, whose twin daughters
speak good English. Rooms are large, with
shared toilet and shower. Coming from Gali,

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

86

ADJARA

you can get off your marshrutka under the

railway bridge 500m after the big UN compound. Walk east along Akirtava, a narrow
lane to the left of a dilapidated block of flats.
Holiday Home Abkhazia (Otdykh Abkhazia; ulitsa
Akirtava; per person R300-500) The cheapest option
after homestays; in the east of town.
Hotel Yasemin (ulitsa Lakoba 100; s/d incl breakfast from
R1200/1500) Centrally situated, with 32 rooms
and a restaurant.
Hotel Sukhum (%68180; www.otel-sukhum.narod
.ru in Russian; r with shared bathroom R1100, with private bathroom & air-con R2900-3500; a) Excellent

small hotel on the bank of the Basla River

towards the east end of town. Prices
include breakfast.
Hotel Ritsa (cnr naberezhnaya Makhadzhirov & prospekt
Leona; s R1040-2600 Oct-May, R1560-3900 Jun-Sep, d R15603900 Oct-May, R2340-5850 Jun-Sep) Now rebuilt after

war damage, the landmark Ritsa is the top

hotel in town, with fan-cooled rooms. It also
houses the fanciest place to eat, Restoran
San-Remo, with an international menu.
There are several cafs and restaurants along naberezhnaya Makhadzhirov.
Travellers have recommended the Nartaa (cnr
ulitsa Aidgylara) for its excellent Abkhazian food
at minuscule prices.
GETTING THERE & AWAY

Taxis for the 20-minute ride from Zugdidi

to Abkhazias southern border at the Enguri
(or Inguri) River cost 10 GEL. At the frontier you pass a Georgian guard post and a
Russian peacekeepers post, before crossing
the bridge to the Abkhazian border post
on the far side (keep an eye on your belongings here). Most people crossing here
are Georgian IDPs returning to tend their
properties in the Gali area.
From the border you can take a
marshrutka (R10, 20 minutes) or a shared
taxi (R40) on to Gali, 15km northwest.
You may also find vehicles going through
to Sukhumi (R150). Marshrutkas and buses
(both R100, two hours) leave Gali for
Sukhumi up to about 11am.
From Sukhumis bus station (ulitsa Dzidzaria),
in the northwest of town, buses run northwest to Novy Afon (R20, 45 minutes), Gagra
(R100, two hours), and the Psou border
crossing (R100, 2 hours), about every halfhour up to 11am, then hourly. The first bus
south to Gali leaves at 10am.
Taxis are easy to find.

lonelyplanet.com

Other Destinations
The coast northwest of Sukhumi is beautiful, with the thickly forested lower slopes
of the Caucasus reaching right down to the
shore in places. The multidomed Novy Afon
Monastery stands out on a hillside about 20km
from Sukhumi. Russian monks came from
Mt Athos in Greece to found this monastery
in the late 19th century. In Soviet times it
was a workers holiday home. Nearby, a small
train carries tourists through the impressive
Novy Afon Caves, and atop Iveriis Hill are the
ruins of ancient Anakopia, capital of Abkhazia
in the 8th century AD. There are a couple
of homestays on the main road just before
Novy Afons old railway station.
At Bzyb (or Bzipi), 80km from Sukhumi,
a road heads off north to Lake Ritsa, created
by a Soviet-era dam amid beautiful Caucasus
mountain scenery at an elevation of 950m.
Stalin had a dacha (country cottage) on the
far shore. The 41km drive up to the lake, via
gorges and waterfalls, is spectacular. You can
hire boats on the lake.
Gagra, Abkhazias main resort and highly
popular with Russian tourists, has a long
beach below thickly forested mountains,
95km from Sukhumi. The old part of town has
some charm. There are many homestays on
Shapshugskoe, 1km north of the marshrutka
station, and on Sayat-Nova, about 500m south
of the marshrutka station, west of the railway.
Most charge R150 per person.

ADJARA
The southwestern corner of Georgia is a
highlight of the country and intriguingly
idiosyncratic: its humid and semitropical
and has a sizable Muslim population.
Since the loss of Abkhazia, Adjara (also
spelt Achara, Ajara or Ajaria) has taken on the
mantle of Georgias holiday coast. Batumi, the
Adjaran capital, is the destination of choice
for most Georgians and many Armenians,
Azerbaijanis and Ukrainians in search of
summer fun, with a real party atmosphere,
especially in August.
Though Adjaras beaches are mostly stony,
the climate is beautiful and the scenery gorgeous, with lush hills rising behind the coast,
and peaks topping 3000m in the Lesser
Caucasus inland.

lonelyplanet.com

Many travellers enter Georgia at the busy

Sarpi border post with Turkey, just south
of Batumi. Onward transport to the rest of
Georgia is good.
Adjarans are ethnically Georgian and speak
the Georgian language. Under Ottoman control from the 16th century to 1878, most of
the inhabitants were converted to Islam. The
Russian takeover in 1878 presaged an early
boom time for Batumi as an export terminal
for oil from Azerbaijan. In Soviet times Adjara
returned to backwater status (the Turkish border was an absolute no-go area), but since
Georgian independence it has again become
an important entry point to the Caucasus
region.
Adjara has retained its status as an autonomous republic within Georgia and until 2004
was the personal fiefdom of its pro-Russian
president, Aslan Abashidze, who kept it out
of Georgias internal conflicts but ran an authoritarian, corrupt regime backed by his own
militia. A standoff between Abashidze and
President Saakashvili climaxed in 2004 when
Abashidze sealed the Adjaran border with
the rest of Georgia, raising fears of another
Georgian civil war. However, Abashidze lost
his crucial support from Russia and days later
left for ignominious exile in Moscow, to the
delight of Adjarans.

BATUMI
%222 / pop 137,000

Although Kutaisi is Georgias second city

population-wise, the resort and port city of
Batumi is in many ways the real counterweight
to Tbilisi in terms of atmosphere, setting and
appearance. Set on a warm semitropical coast
with a backdrop of mist-wrapped hills near
the Turkish border, Batumi has become the
countrys summer holiday capital, pulling in
tourists from around Georgia and beyond.
Its history is a lot shorter than that of most
Georgian cities, and it owes much of its unique
charm to the elegant fin-de-sicle architecture
of its original boom time a century ago.
For most travellers arriving from Turkey,
Batumi will be the first Georgian city they
encounter, and it makes a great introduction to the country, with its relaxed atmosphere, lots of hotel space, good restaurants
and nightlife.
Batumi developed in the late 19th century
as the western terminus of a railway from
Baku that then carried one-fifth of the worlds

ADJARA Batumi

89

oil production. A pipeline and refinery built

by Ludwig Nobel, brother of Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred, soon followed. Batumi
gained free-port status, over 20 foreign consulates set up here, and the town developed
into a fashionable resort at the southern tip of
the Russian empire and a crossroads between
Europe and Asia.
One of the first decisions of the postAbashidze administration in 2004 was to
make Batumi an attractive place to visit, something in which they are, happily, succeeding.
Charming old buildings have been restored,
renovated and floodlit, attractive new ones are
joining them, and strolling around the leafy,
low-rise central streets is a real pleasure.

Orientation & Information

The central, oldest and liveliest part of town
sits on a broad arrowhead of land with the
harbour to its east and the stony main beach
running down the western shore, backed by
the Batumis bulvari (Batumi Blvd) park.
Two broad avenues, Chavchavadze and
Rustaveli, mark the southern and northern boundaries of the central area, with K
Gamsakhurdia and Baratashvili the most
important cross-streets in the central grid.
The bus station is east of the centre, a 1km
walk along Tsereteli from Tbilisis moedani
on Chavchavadze. Batumis train station is
5km north of town in Makhinjauri, on the
road to Kobuleti.
Adjara (www.tourismadjara.ge) This regional tourism
website is useful and attractive.
Internet Caf (Melikishvili 23; per hr 1.50 GEL; h9ammidnight) The most pleasant spot to do your mail.
Internet Caf (Marjanishvili; per hr 2 GEL; h24 hr)
Noisy kids but good connections.
Tourist Information kiosks (h10am-2pm &
4-8pm) Evropas moedani (%877909094; cnr Baratashvili
& Memed Abashidze) Boulevard (%877909091; cnr
Ninoshvili & K Gamsakhurdia) These helpful places provide
good city maps and other material on Adjara in English. At
research time they only opened from May to October but
this may be extended.

Sights
Everyone soon finds themselves strolling
along Batumis bulvari, the 1.5km park strip
fronting the main beach. With its cafs,
paths, trees, beach bars and large Ferris wheel
(per person 0.50 GEL) at the south end, this is the
life and soul of the resort. It was originally
laid out in 1884 and contains some unique

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

88

ADJARA Batumi

lonelyplanet.com

0
0

BATUMI
INFORMATION
Internet caf............................... 1
Internet caf.............................. 2
Tourist Information Kiosk........... 3
Tourist Information Kiosk........... 4
Turkish Consulate....................... 5

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Black
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500 m
0.3 miles

To Airport (5km);
Gonio (11km);
Kvariati (15km);
Sarpi (17km)

SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES

Adjara Arts Museum.................. 6
Batumi Tennis Club..................... 7
Ferris Wheel............................... 8
Ice Rink...................................... 9
Medea Monument................... 10
Mosque................................... 11
Old Food Shop........................ 12
Stalin Museum......................... 13

B2
B1
B2
C1
C2
D2
C2
D3

SLEEPING
Dzveli Batumi........................... 14
Homestay................................. 15
Hotel Alik................................. 16
Hotel Amirani........................... 17
Hotel Iliko................................ 18

C2
B3
C1
C1
C2

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

have survived, including a moth-eaten towel

and the bed he slept on.
Batumis last surviving mosque (Kutaisi 33),
built in the 1860s, is also worth visiting. Its
finely painted in pinks, greens and blues,
with beautiful Koranic calligraphy on the
walls. Friendly men often gather to socialise
at the entrance. The nameless old food shop
(K Gamsakhurdia 12) has very ordinary goods for
sale, but its rich gold decoration is a unique
memento of pre-revolutionary Batumi.
Batumis most modern and one of its
most interesting museums is the Nobel
Technological Museum (%54594; Leselidze 3, Tamari
district; admission 2 GEL; h10am-5pm). This takes you
back to Batumis heyday in the late 19th and
early 20th century, when it was in the vanguard of the international oil business, with
investment from the Nobels and Rothschilds
spawning technological innovations here. The
museum also looks at the tea industry that
grew up at the same time. Its just inland off
the road to Makhinjauri train station.

Activities
Hotel Intourist Palace............... 19
Hotel Mercury......................... 20
Hotel Oscar.............................. 21
Hotel Piramida......................... 22
Hotel Rcheuli Villa.................... 23
Hotel Ritsa............................... 24
Light House Hotel.................... 25

C1
D2
C2
C2
C2
C2
B2

EATING
Bakuriani Winter Garden Caf..(see 19)
Caf Frontieri........................... 26 D2
Iunga....................................... 27 C2
Kafe Literaturuli....................... 28 C2
Privet iz Batuma....................... 29 C2
Ristorante Da Mario...............(see 19)
San Remo................................ 30 A2

plants and trees. The beach itself is fine

though stony extremely busy during the
summer months, but kept clean enough.
Youll find cleaner waters, and thinner
crowds, a short drive south of the city, at
Gonio and Kvariati.
The main central square, Evropas moedani
(Europe Sq), is a broad, attractive space
sporting musical fountains which are a
magnet for kids on hot summer evenings.
Towering over the square is a striking monument, unveiled in 2007, to Medea, the person who brought Georgia closer to Europe,
according to Batumis mayor at the time.
The Georgian government controversially
paid over 1 million GEL for the monument,
sculpted by Davit Khmaladze.

Sanapiro/Bereg........................ 31 D2
Slim Caf................................. 32 C2
Zakara..................................... 33 C3
ENTERTAINMENT
Coordinate 41/41.....................34 B1
Prozak......................................35 B1
Tarabua Beach Club.................. 36 B1
TRANSPORT
Instra....................................... 37
Marshrutka & Bus Station........ 38
Marshrutkas to Gonio & Sarpi.. 39
Old train station....................... 40
Passenger ferry terminal........... 41

C2
D3
C2
C2
D1

The Adjara Arts Museum (%73894; Era 8; admission

2 GEL; h11am-6pm Tue-Sun) makes a happy break
from many of Georgias more turgid and badly
lit museums. The collection covers Georgian
art including works by Pirosmani and Elena
Akhvlediani, as well as European and Russian
painting from the 19th and 20th centuries.
For those who dont make it to Gori, the
Stalin Museum (%20456; Pushkin 19; admission 2
GEL, guide in English 1 GEL; h9am-5pm Mon-Sat) is an
interesting and similarly hagiographic establishment. Stalin lived here for just a few
months in 190102 when he helped organise
the bitumen workers and set up an illegal
printing press. Rather too amazingly (given
that he didnt become famous until almost
two decades later), his personal belongings

The good open-air pool at the Hotel Intourist

Palace (%32123; Ninoshvili 11; admission 30 GEL; h10am7pm) is open to nonguests, as is the hotels
excellent spa (admission 20 GEL; h7am-midnight)
see p92.
Batumi Tennis Club (%72258; Batumis bulvari; per hr
for 2 incl racquets & balls 20 GEL; h8am-9pm) has eight
good hard courts, and you can ice-skate year
round at Batumis modern Ice Rink (Gogebashvili;
per hr 5 GEL; hnoon-11pm). The gleaming new
Marina Tourist Center (%76400, 899136565; www
.marigroup.ge; Khimshiashvili 10; pool per hr 15 GEL, tennis
court per hr outdoor/indoor 10/15 GEL, tennis racquets and
balls for 2 15 GEL) has an excellent 25m indoor pool

and tennis courts.

Sleeping
Batumi has a large and ever-growing number
of hotels, with many attractive new midrange
places opening up.
BUDGET

Hotel Iliko (%73892; K Gamsakhurdia 42; r 20-50 GEL; a)

This inexpensive little family-run hotel is set
around a small courtyard reached through an
arch with a Sastumro/Gostinitsa sign (thats
Hotel in Georgian and Russian). Room options range from fan-and-shared-bathroom
to air-con-with-bath. All are clean and well
cared for, if rather small.

ADJARA Batumi

91

Homestay (%898525258, 899797224; Lermontov 24;

per person 20 GEL) Kulnasi Miqeladze runs a veritable minibudget hotel with 18 rooms, most
of them newly built, on three floors. Theyre
bare but spotless and good-sized. The shared
bathrooms are equally clean and theres a
guests kitchen. Marshrutkas 12, 15 and 15A
from the bus station via Tbilisis moedani stop
nearby on Chavchavadze.
Hotel Piramida (%32204; Vazha Pshavela 39; r 30
GEL Oct-Jun, 40 GEL Jul-Sep) A good-value, friendly
budget option, the Piramida has smallish,
well-kept rooms, all with bathrooms and
some with balconies. The owner, Almazik,
also has a travel agency and can organise city
tours and day trips.
Hotel Oscar (%76267; Gorgasali 6; r 40-60 GEL; a)
A touch shabby but friendly, the Oscar has
ordinary 40 GEL rooms with fans and much
brighter 60 GEL rooms with air-con. All have
private bathrooms. Not too bad for the price
and location.
MIDRANGE

Hotel Mercury (%31401; www.hotelmercurybm.ge;

Chavchavadze 10/12; r incl breakfast 60-80 GEL, ste 130 GEL;
a) The decent-sized and uncluttered rooms,

most with balconies or large windows over the

street, plus a raft of extras roof terrace, 4thfloor bar, basement bistro and sauna make
the Mercury good value. It can fill up during
high season.
oDzveli Batumi (Old Batumi; %77157; www
.davisvenot.ge/dzvelibatumi; batgts@yahoo.com; Kostava 24;
s/d 60/80 GEL, ste 150 GEL; a) Friendly and informa-

tive hosts Gocha and Irina have converted half

a dozen rooms in their old-town home with
spot-on contemporary taste, all in various
pastel colours, with carpets and satellite TV. A
guesthouse with one big difference: flair.
Hotel Ritsa (%73292; www.hotelritsa.com; Z Gamsakhurdia 16; r incl breakfast 70-120 GEL; a) This well
situated, 14-room hotel provides comfort and
belle poque style in a new building, opened
in 2006. The cheaper rooms are an especially
good deal.
Hotel Marina (%76400, 899136565; www.mari
group.ge; Khimshiashvili 10; s 70 GEL, d 90-130 GEL; as)

Down on the southern seafront, the Marina

is a welcoming, English-speaking place in a
gleaming new sports-and-tourism facility with
a pool, tennis courts, a fitness club, billiards
and football pitches but its also a fine place
to stay if youre not feeling particularly active.
Rooms are spacious, modern and pleasant,

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

90

ADJARA Batumi

with a wave design theme, and many have

balconies. Downstairs are an ATM, a bar, an
Asian-theme caf and a Mexican restaurant.
Light House Hotel (%33610; www.lighthouse.ge;
Kazbegi 4; r incl breakfast 120 GEL) This very stylish new
hotel, on a quiet street just out of the busiest
part of town, has just 10 rooms in a variety of
eye-catching, modish styles and colours. A
comfortable and friendly place to stay.
oHotel Rcheuli Villa (%70707; rcheuli
villa@centerpoint.ge; Jordania 21; r incl breakfast US$50-80,
ste US$100-150; a) A lovely pink-painted man-

sion, newly built in old Batumi style, houses

fine rooms with marble floors and elegant
imperial-style furnishings. Professional but
friendly service helps make this newcomer
one of the best bets in Batumi.
Hotel Amirani (%75515; www.hotelamirani.ge;
General Mazniashvili 3; r incl breakfast US$60-130; a) This
small, central hotel has elegant rooms with
parquet floors, thick rugs and classical dcor.
Reception staff speak excellent English.
Hotel Alik (%75801; hotelalik.gol.ge; Memed Abashidze
12; r incl breakfast US$80-120; as) A comfortable,
central place where large faux-cactus lamps
and gaudy 21st-century bedspreads cohabit
with Empire-style chairs. Services and facilities are good, but the sauna and plunge pool
are only free to guests until noon.
TOP END

Hotel Intourist Palace (%32123; www.intouristpalace

.com; Ninoshvili 11; r incl breakfast US$176-295 Aug;
ais) Palace is no exaggeration for this

luxuriously revamped large hotel, from its

gleaming marble lobby to the large, thickly
carpeted rooms, all with balconies. The position facing the Boulevard park is superb, and
hotel facilities include two restaurants, a good
open-air pool and a spa with sauna, Turkish
bath, fitness centre and assorted massages
(US$20 to US$80). Room rates vary dramatically with the seasons and can more than halve
in winter.

Eating
Batumi is full of lively cafs and restaurants.
In addition to those listed here, there are several cafs in the Boulevard park, and from
July to September many more open up on the
main beach, some making admirable efforts to
create a tropical ambience.
Zakara (cnr Pushkin & Vazha Pshavela; khinkali each 0.50
GEL; h10am-midnight) This two-level wooden
local restaurant is widely reputed to serve

lonelyplanet.com

the best beef and pork khinkali in town (if you

arent sick of them already). Its an animated
place with plenty of beer flowing.
Iunga (Era 4; khachapuri 2-3.50 GEL; h9am-11pm)
Theres no better place than Batumi to decide
whether you like khachapuri acharuli, Adjaras
large boat-shaped variety of Georgias national
fast food with a lightly fried egg on top. And
theres no better place to try it than this tiny,
neat place which specialises in it if one of
its four tables is vacant.
Kafe Literaturuli (%899155443; K Gamsakhurdia 18;
cakes & pastries 2-5 GEL; h9am-11pm) The Literary
Caf is a great stop for tea, coffee, cakes and
pastries, with a slightly artsy ambience.
Privet iz Batuma (%32217; Memed Abashidze
36; light dishes 2-8 GEL; h10am-1am) A fashionable caf with a colonial Russian theme and
sailor-suited waiters, Hi from Batumi is
good for ice cream, cakes, sandwiches, desserts and bliny (pancakes). The interior is airconditioned and there are outdoor tables too,
but you may still have to wait for a table on
summer evenings.
Slim Caf (%899550065; Memed Abashidze 27; dishes
4-7 GEL) Long and thin (true to its name) and in
tasteful style, Slim serves wonderful bliny with
fruit and chocolate dripping, plus assorted
sandwiches, soups and salads.
Sanapiro/Bereg (%31271; Gogebashvili 9; mains 5-8
GEL; h8am-2am) Right on the waterfront facing
the harbour, this open-air pavilion is one of
Batumis best places to eat for its location
alone. The food (mainly Georgian standards)
and the service are fine too.
Caf Frontieri (Gogebashvili 28; mains 5-10 GEL)
A pleasant open-air spot facing the northern seafront, Frontieri is good for salads,
shashlyk, cheese plates, apple pie and draft
Staropramen beer from the Czech Republic.
San Remo (%877950950; Batumis bulvari; mains 510 GEL) Another place with sailor-suited waiters, the picture-windowed San Remo serves
Georgian and Russian fare on a pier at the
southern end of the Boulevard. Its a bit of a
party place in the evening, with live music and
a small dance floor.
Bakuriani Winter Garden Caf (%32123; Hotel
Intourist Palace, Ninoshvili 11; cakes & sandwiches 7-9
GEL; h8am-4am) The Intourist Palaces large

conservatory-style caf is the most tranquil and

comfortable, and expensive, in town.
Ristorante Da Mario (%32123; Hotel Intourist Palace,
Ninoshvili 11; mains 9-25 GEL) Classy service, excellent
Italian food and a long wine list make this

lonelyplanet.com

hotel restaurant overlooking the Blvd a fine

dinner spot.

Entertainment
In summer Batumis bulvari is the nightlife
capital of Georgia. The main clubs Tarabua
Beach Club, Coordinate 41/41 and Prozak
are all fresh-air venues close to the beach, with
stages and large dance spaces where people
party till dawn every night. Long lists of guest
DJs from around Europe provide high-energy
and chill-out beats, helped out some nights
by singers or bands. They open their doors
around 9pm and start to fill after 11pm, with
admission normally 10 GEL to 15 GEL. Plenty
of smaller bars along the beach develop their
own nocturnal scenes too.

Getting There & Around

As well as marshrutkas, buses and trains to
other Georgian destinations, Batumi offers
flights and overland transport to Armenia,
and flights and ferries to Ukraine.
AIR

The new airport (%76649) is 5km south of

town on the Sarpi road. Turkish Airlines
flies three times weekly to Istanbul and the
small Georgian airlines Tbilaviamsheni
and Marsi fly to Ukraine (Kiev, Odessa,
Kharkov and Donetsk) once or more weekly.
Tbilaviamsheni also has three flights a week
to Yerevan.
Marshrutkas bound for Gonio or Sarpi
from Tbilisis moedani will drop you at
the airport.
LAND

Bus, Marshrutka & Taxi

Taxis to or from the Turkish border at Sarpi,

17km south, cost 15 GEL to 20 GEL; marshrutkas cost 1.50 GEL. In Batumi marshrutkas to
Sarpi start from Tbilisis moedani. The border is open 24 hours daily and crossing it
is normally straightforward, though there
can be queues at weekends. Note that Hopa
marshrutkas from Batumi go to the Hopa
bazaar, a huge market outside Batumi not
Hopa in Turkey!
In Tbilisi, marshrutkas to Batumi (18 GEL,
seven hours) leave Didube bus station at least
hourly from 8am to 8pm or later. Further
marshrutkas and buses (at least every two
hours, 9am to 5pm) leave from the back of
Tbilisis main train station.

ADJARA Batumi

93

In Batumi the main marshrutka and bus station (%30163; Maiakovski 1) has buses to Tbilisi
(about hourly, 7am to midnight), Poti (5 GEL,
1 hours, eight daily, 8am to 6pm), Kutaisi (8
GEL, 2 hours, hourly, 7am to 8pm), Zugdidi
(10 GEL, three hours, at 11am, noon, 4pm
and 6pm) and Akhaltsikhe (18 GEL, six
hours, 8.30am and 10.30am) via Khashuri
and Borjomi.
From about May to September theres
a marshrutka to Akhaltsikhe (15 GEL, six
hours, 11am) via Khulo a route through
mountainous interior Adjara which is not
passable in winter. Also from here, Lks
Karadeniz (%33984) runs buses to Trabzon
in Turkey (20 GEL, three hours, every 1
hours, 11am to 5pm).
Further marshrutkas to Tbilisi go hourly,
between 7.30am and 11.30pm, from the old
train station (cnr Asatiani & Zubalashvili).
Marshrutka 26 runs between the bus station and Tbilisis moedani, which is the terminus for marshrutkas 138 to Gonio (0.90 GEL)
and 142 to Sarpi (1.50 GEL), both every 20 to
30 minutes.
Train

Batumis shiny new Makhinjauri station

(%54158) is about 5km north of town on the
Kobuleti road. Marshrutka 20 (0.40 GEL)
runs here from Rustaveli and Gogebashvili, as
does marshrutka 1 from Gogebashvili just east
of Chavchavadze. The comfortable sleeper
train to Tbilisi (3rd-/2nd-/1st-class 15/23/40
GEL, eight hours) departs at 11.25pm; its
best to book ahead for this (and essential in
summer). Theres also an afternoon train to
Tbilisi at 4.45pm (one-class seating only, 20
GEL, seven hours), and an 8am elektrichka to
Kutaisi (four hours). In July, August and the
first half of September a train departs every
second morning to Yerevan (3rd-/2nd-/1stclass 30/46/91 GEL, 21 hours).
SEA

Ferries sail about once weekly to Ilyichevsk

(Ukraine) from Batumis sea port. The local
ticket agent is Instra (%74119; Kutaisi 34). At research time Batumis passenger ferry terminal
(%74912; Gogebashvili 3) stood idle apart from
furnishing information about sailings to
Sochi in Russia from Hopa in Turkey, 30km
from Batumi after the BatumiSochi ferry
was suspended in 2007. See p323 for further
details on all these services.

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

92

Sleeping
Gonio and Kvariati have plenty of homestays,
many of them right on the beach. Locals let
out rooms for between 15 GEL and 50 GEL
per person depending whether you need a

Jvari
Reservoir

Tobari

Khaishi

la

cha

stia

Me

Tita

EGRISI
RANGE

LOWER SVANETI

Tskh

enists

kali

Lentekhi

Enguri
Dam

LECHKHUMI
RANGE

Jvari

Tsageri

RACHA

ve

To Zugdidi
(20km)

sk

ali

Ri

Lajanurhesi

ist

en

Ambrolauri

er
i Riv

SAMEGRELO

Rion

Impossibly beautiful, wild and mysterious, Svaneti is an ancient land locked in

the greater Caucasus, so remote that it
has never been tamed by any ruler, and
even during the Soviet period it largely retained its traditional way of life. You need
a minimum of three days to visit Svaneti
(including one getting there and one getting
out again), but if you can manage it, Svaneti
is a must. Uniquely picturesque villages and
snow-covered peaks rising over 4000m above
flower-strewn alpine meadows offer marvelous walking opportunities. Svanetis emblem

ABKHAZIA

20 km
12 miles

Nakra Pass
(3203m)
Ushba Chalati
Becho Pass
Mt Glacier Glacier Mestia Pass
RUSSIA
(3757m)
(3367m) Shkhelda
(4390m)
Lekhziri
Glacier
Tsanner Glacier
Do
lra
Mt Ushba
ra
u
(4700m)
Tsanner Pass
Nakra
lkh
Mazeri
(3887m)
Mulakhi
Mu
Mestia
Becho
Dizi
Mt
Tetnuldi
Lardaad Glacier
Zhabeshi
Lenjeri
Lalhor
(4858m)
R
Mt Jangitau
iver
Ienashi
ri
gu
(5058m)
Adishi
Ipari
En
Ughviri Pass
Mt Shkhara
Shkhara
(1922m)
(5068m)
Glacier
UPPER SVANETI
Khe
ri
Iprari
gu
n
E
Zagar Pass
(2623m)
Ushguli

SVANETI

0
0

SVANETI

kh

A trip into the Caucasus along Georgias

northern border is a must for anyone who
wants to experience the best of the country.
Spectacular alpine scenery, wonderful walks
and picturesque old villages with strange,
tall defensive towers are all part of a trip to
the Caucasus. Here traditions are more alive
than elsewhere and the hospitality is almost
compulsive in its intensity.
Georgias very identity hinges on this
mighty range that rises in Abkhazia, forms
the border with Russia and runs the length
of the country into Azerbaijan and Dagestan.
The Caucasus includes the highest mountain
in Europe, Mt Elbrus (5642m), on the Russian
side of the border, and remains almost untouched by commercial development in a way
the Alps can only dream about.
The most accessible destination is Kazbegi,
reached by the dramatic Georgian Military
Hwy from Tbilisi, but other areas are more
than worth the effort of getting there
including enigmatic Svaneti, a refuge for many
things considered essentially Georgian, and
beautiful, untouched Tusheti.
Its notably cooler in the mountain villages,
which can be a blessed relief in August, and
in the hills you should be equipped for bad
weather any time. The best walking season
in most areas is from June to September.
Indeed some areas such as Khevsureti and
Tusheti are only accessible for a few summer
months.

THE MOUNTAINS

Nikortsminda

Martvili

Shaori
Reservoir

Nakerala Pass
Nokalakevi

Tskaltubo

95

Svanetis isolation has meant that during

the many murderous invasions of Georgia
over the centuries, icons, art and other religious artefacts from elsewhere were brought
here for safekeeping, and many of them remain in private homes. Svaneti also has a rich
church-art heritage of its own, with many of
the tiny village churches boasting frescoes
1000 years old. This mountain retreat is regarded by many as the most authentically
Georgian part of the country, despite the fact
that the Svans speak an unwritten language
that broke away from Georgian some four
millennia ago and is largely unintelligible to
other Georgians.
Svaneti is divided into Upper (Zemo) and
Lower (Kvemo) Svaneti. Upper Svaneti offers

is the defensive stone tower, designed to

house villagers at times of invasion and
strife. Around 175 towers, most originally
built between the 9th and 13th centuries,
survive in Svaneti today.
Until recently Svaneti was rather unsafe,
with armed robberies against tourists too
common to ignore. Its become a much safer
place since 2004, when security forces shot
dead the areas leading robber baron and his
son, and jailed several other thugs. We did
still hear of two attempted armed robberies (one successful) against tourist groups in
2006, but the overall picture is much safer.
Its sensible to go with a local guide when you
venture out on hikes, or at least get good local
information first.

Ts

private bathroom and/or meals. Travellers

have recommended Murabas at Kvariati, next
to the big Hotel Neptun.

T H E M O U N TA I N S S v a n e t i

LE

The most interesting sight south of Batumi

is the fortress at Gonio (admission 2 GEL; h10am6pm), 11km from town, past the Chorokhi
River. This is a vast and almost totally intact
Roman fortress, which now has stunningly
luscious gardens and is home to the grave of
the Apostle Matthew/Levi. Marshrutkas to
Sarpi and Gonio (p93) pass by the fortress,
which is by the main road. Until the 12th
century Gonio was known as Apsarosi, which
may mean place with water, or may derive
from Apsyrtus who, according to legend, was
chopped into pieces and thrown into the sea
by his sister Medea.
One of the best examples of RomanByzantine military architecture in the world,
the fortress covers 47,000 sq metres and has
18 towers, a theatre and a Roman-era bathhouse. From Gonio the road continues for
another 6km to Sarpi on the Turkish border.
The route is lovely, with waterfalls in the lush
green hills and mountains, and the sea on the
other side.
Both Gonio and Kvariati, 4km to its south
(before Sarpi), have pebbly beaches with
cleaner water than in Batumi. They are starting to be developed for tourism with a few
hotels and beach bars, but still make for a
quieter stay than in Batumi. Theres a tourist
information office at the border at Sarpi.
Batumis Botanical Gardens (admission 6 GEL;
h9am-8pm), 9km north of town at Mtsvane
Kontskhi (Green Cape), are well worth a trip.
Marshrutka 1 (0.60 GEL) runs there from
Gogebashvili just east of Chavchavadze. The
lush gardens, with many semitropical and
foreign species, cover a hillside rising straight
out of the sea, and it takes about 1 hours
to walk the main path at a leisurely pace. A
decent, stony beach, much less crowded than
Batumis, is down to the left of the entrance,
and theres a handful of cafs and bars around
there too.
The main Adjaran town north of here
is Kobuleti, 30km from Batumi, a less attractive and more downmarket beach resort, which straggles along the coast for
several kilometres.

lonelyplanet.com

ra

AROUND BATUMI

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

Nak

T H E M O U N TA I N S S v a n e t i

Sataplia
Reserve

Tqibuli
Gelati

Tqibuli
Reservoir

Motsameta

Senaki
KUTAISI

IMERETI

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

94

T H E M O U N TA I N S S v a n e t i

the best walking and climbing as well as the

strongest traditions; it is very green, with subalpine forests of hornbeam, chestnut, spruce,
pine and fir.
There are different species of wild goats,
wolves, foxes and bears. The Svans mainly
live by farming cattle, though they keep a
breed of semiwild pig as well. In recent decades many Svans have moved to Tbilisi and
southeast Georgia in search of a less difficult
lifestyle. Tourism is one hope the region has
for economic improvement.
Svan food tends to be less elaborate than
other varieties of Georgian cuisine, but can
be delicious.
Typical dishes are chvishdari (cheese
cooked inside maize bread) and kubdari
(minced meat in a khachapuri-type pie).
The Svaneti Mountain Tourism Centre (%895
358049; www.svanetitrekking.ge; Stalin 7, Mestia), an
NGO set up to develop locally based tourism in Svaneti, can provide accommodation
in Mestia and several other villages (35 GEL
per person, full board), plus hiking guides (50
GEL per day), foreign-language guides (30
GEL to 40 GEL per day), horses (20 GEL per
day) and vehicle transport within Svaneti.
The office in Mestia is open erratic hours
and may only have Russian and Georgian
speakers available, so allow a day or two to
make any arrangements, or contact the staff
in advance. The website is an excellent source
of Svaneti information.

Mestia

%336 (international), %236 (domestic) / pop 2500

The administrative capital of Svaneti, at an altitude of 1400m, is a conglomeration of at least

10 neighbourhoods, with old buildings and
typical Svan towers mixed in among drabber
Soviet-era structures.
Mestia has no ATM, but many shops will
change cash euros or US dollars. You can access the internet at the Training & Consultation
Centre (Sgimieri; internet free; h2-4pm Mon-Fri). Most
homestays can arrange guides and jeep
transport.
An experienced and well-recommended
English-speaking guide here, both for hikes
and for visits to Svanetis churches, is Eteri
Jorjoliani (%899167121; per day US$25-30).
MUSEUM OF HISTORY & ETHNOGRAPHY

Six hundred metres south from the central

square, across two bridges, youll find Mestias

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

lonelyplanet.com

T H E M O U N TA I N S S v a n e t i

97

excellent Museum of History & Ethnography

(%22158; admission 10 GEL, English-speaking guide 10 GEL;
h10am-5pm Tue-Sun). Despite security problems,

the Svans are reluctant to see their amazingly

rich treasury of religious items moved from
the villages, but this museums collection is
comprehensive, and labelled in English as well
as Georgian, so its the best place to get an
overall idea of the glories of Svanetian art.
The exhibit includes a historic collection
of 1890s Svaneti photos by Italian Vittorio
Sella, and a hall with reproductions of famed
Svaneti church murals, but the highlight is
the two-room treasury: here you can see
a 12th-century Persian silver jug given to
Svaneti by Queen Tamar; a number of beautifully illuminated gospels from the 9th to
13th centuries; and golden altar crosses and
chased-metal icons of amazingly high quality
from the 10th to 14th centuries.
One rare 11th-century icon shows St
George spearing the emperor Diocletian instead of his usual dragon. The 12th-century
icon of the Forty Martyrs (who died by
drowning) has a highly unusual modern
quality; this piece is not Svanetian, rather it
is thought to be from central Georgia.
SLEEPING & EATING

There are plenty of homestays in Mestia, all

offering meals.
Manoni Ratiani (%899568417; Gvaldiri; per person
half board 25 GEL, camping per person 5 GEL) Manonis
rooms are a little more basic than the following places but still fine. Theres a hot shower,
and Manoni also has tents and sleeping bags
for camping in her big, grassy garden. Son
Irakli speaks English. Theyre just over 1km
east from the central square up a lane to
the right beside a long, white building, 400m
past the bridge over the Mestiachala River.
Nino Ratiani (%899183555; ninoratiani@gmail.com;
Tamari 1; per person incl breakfast/half board/full board
20/30/35 GEL) Particularly good Svan food (in-

cluding many vegetarian dishes), a hospitable welcome and clean, comfortable rooms
make Ninos one of the best homestays in
town. Nino speaks some English and daughter Tamuna is fluent. Their house is the one
with the Mini Market shop, 600m along
the street towards Zugdidi from the central
square. If its full, they will install you with
relatives nearby.
Nino & Eka Japaridze (%899572850, 899389300;
per person full board US$25) This excellent home-

WALKS AROUND MESTIA

Some routes are hard to follow without a guide, and much safer with one. Take local advice as
you make your plans. You can remove some of the slog from many walks by going partway by
jeep, which homestays can help you organise.
A moderately demanding half-day walk that many people do without a guide is up to the
Cross, visible 900m above Mestia on the north side of the valley (actually just a single pole at
research time). The views get better as you go, and from the Cross you can see the spectacular
twin peaks of Mt Ushba (4710m), Georgias toughest and most dangerous mountaineering challenge. From Mestias central square walk 450m east along the main street then take the lane
up to the left. Take the uphill option at all junctions. You pass under an arch after about 350m,
and after 150m more the street becomes a footpath: follow this up and after 800m it bends to
the right across the hillside, still climbing, eventually to meet a jeep track. You can follow this,
shortcutting some bends, all the way to the cross. The round trip from Mestia takes about five
hours. If youre feeling fit and energetic, with good weather and enough daylight you can continue
to a series of small lakes, about two hours beyond the Cross and some 300m higher.
The walk to the Chalati Glacier is another lovely route, taking you out past Mestias airstrip
and up the Mestiachala valley. The last section is up through woods to the foot of the glacier.
Watch out for rocks falling off the glacier in summer. This route is a nine- or 10-hour round trip
including stops. There is a border-guard checkpoint en route, so take your passport.
You can spend a lovely three days walking to Ushguli if you start by taking a jeep as far as
Ipari (Nakipari on some maps), about 20km southeast of Mestia. From Ipari the first stage takes
you to Adishi, where you can sleep at Zhora Kaldanis homestay (%899187359; per person half
board 35 GEL). The second day is from Adishi to Iprari, where there are rooms at Ucha Margvelanis
(%899574783; per person half board 35 GEL). On the third day its three or four hours walk from
Iprari to Ushguli.
Mazeri village, 1600m high in the Dolra valley, northwest of Mestia, is another fine base for
walks. One spectacular day route is up to the Ushba Glacier and back. In Mazeri, theres homestay accommodation with mountaineer Giri Tserediani (%895563155; per person half board US$25)
and Natia Kvitsiani (%32-235691, 877411042; per person half board with lunch box US$30), who has a
comfortable new guesthouse.

stay, with large, spotless rooms, hot water

and creature comforts, is on the north side
of the central square. Nino and Eka have six
4WD vehicles and a minibus and can meet
groups in Zugdidi or even Tbilisi. Russian
and a tiny bit of English spoken.
David Zhorzholiani (% 899344948; per person
half/full board US$20/25) English-speaking David
is a knowledgeable hiking guide. His familys farmstead, just off the east side of the
square, has five good clean bedrooms, a hot
shower in a good Western-style bathroom
and its own Svan tower!
Tsiuri & Lali Gabliani (%899569358; Gablianis qucha;
per person half board US$25) Both of these sisters
teach and speak English, and their house has
homey rooms, lovely views from the verandah, a hot shower and books on Svaneti in
several languages. Its 500m southwest of the
main square, near the hospital.

GETTING THERE & AWAY

Getting to Mestia is an adventure in itself.

The five- or six-hour marshrutka or jeep
trip from Zugdidi (see p86) travels through
increasingly spectacular scenery as it runs
up the Enguri valley, then the Mulkhura valley. From Tbilisi you can take an overnight
train that gets you into Zugdidi at 5.30am,
in time to catch a marshrutka to Svaneti the
same morning. Alternatively, theres a 6am
marshrutka that goes from in front of Tbilisis
main train station all the way to Mestia (25 to
35 GEL, 11 to 12 hours). Get there by 5.30am
to ensure a seat.
Returning, a marshrutka leaves Mestia
at 5am or 6am daily to Zugdidi and Tbilisi.
There may be others later but you cant
depend on it.
The jeep roads from Mestia to Ushguli and
from Ushguli to Lentekhi in Kvemo Svaneti
(via the 2623m Zagar Pass) can be blocked for

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

96

Tamar's
Castle
Gveleti
Tsminda
Sameba
Church

Gergeti
Glacier

Achkhoti

KHEVI

Arsha

Sno

lle

Okrokana

gi

r
Te

Nogkau
Almasiani

Va

de

Sn

Sioni

Juta

Roshka
Pass

Sno
Valley

Kobi

Mt Chaukhi
(3842m)

Jvari Pass
(2379m)

Roshka

vi

rag

tri

vis

ha

vi

KHEVSURETI

Guda

PSHAVI

ver

Ananuri
Akhalgori

Kvemo Zakhori

Zhinvali
Dusheti

Lake
Bazaleti

Aragvi

To Kutaisi
(190km)

River

Bazaleti

M1

Mtk

var

i R
iv

er

Mtskheta

Ananuri
This fortress with its churches is another example of beautiful Georgian architecture in a
beautiful location, even if the surroundings

er

Ksani Ri

Zhinvali
Reservoir

Jori Riv

Georgian Mi
litary Highw
ay

Magharoskari

i
Mtiuleti Aragv

SOUTH
OSSETIA

maka

Pasanauri

Chargali

River

ri R
ang

M3

vi

ve

MTIULETI

Kvesheti

Ri

Khada
Valley

ag

ag

Barisakho

Ps

Ar

Ar

Skere
Gudauri

Mleta

GEORGIAN MILITARY HIGHWAY

Gudani

avis

Ketrisi

Kazbegi

Gergeti

Devdoraki
Glacier

Abano
Tru
Gor so
ge

Khde
Valley

Psh

Resi

99

20 km
12 miles

Chertov Most
(Closed)

Te

runs one of the most comfortable, with a hot

shower and great meals of Svan food. You
can rent horses here for 20 GEL to 25 GEL a
day. Temuraz Nizharadze (%899209719; Chvibiani; per
person full board 30-35 GEL) has simpler accommodation just below Lamaria church, with squat

Mt Kazbek
(5047m)

ge

(%895485622; Zhibiani; per person full board US$30)

Tensions and occasional outbreaks of violence

in and around the borders of the separatist region of South Ossetia rose after the Saakashvili
government came to power in Tbilisi in 2003.
By 2007, if you did get through the various
Georgian, Russian and Ossetian checkpoints
around the border of South Ossetia, there was
a good chance you would be hauled in for
questioning and then expelled. No country
recognises South Ossetia as an independent
entity and the British and US governments
were, at research time, advising their citizens
against travel to South Ossetia.
If things ever normalise here, hiking in the
Caucasus in northern South Ossetia is likely
to be the chief visitor attraction. Marshrutkas
run to the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali,
from Tbilisis Didube bus station (5 GEL,
about three hours). For accommodation in
Tskhinvali theres the shabby Hotel Ireston
(Teatralnaya ploshchad; r with shared toilet R70; i), which
has an internet caf.

Ran

There are several homestays. Dato Ratiani

RUSSIA

ruli

SLEEPING

To Vladikavkaz
(27km)

SOUTH OSSETIA

This ancient passage from Tbilisi over the

Caucasus to Vladikavkaz in Russia is a spectacular adventure. The dirt track through
the challenging mountain terrain was only
properly engineered as a road in the early
19th century with the Russian annexation of
the Caucasus. The scenery is dramatic even
before the road gets into the Caucasus itself
the road clings to the side of the turquoise
Zhinvali Reservoir and passes the sublime
architecture of Ananuri and the ski resort of
Gudauri before entering the most remote,
eerily deserted mountain regions around its
highest point, the Jvari (Cross) Pass. It then
descends the Tergi (Terek in Russian) valley
with its several settlements as it approaches
the Russian border. Unfortunately, due to the
continued closure of the RussianGeorgian
border, the route is currently a dead end, but
Kazbegi, the last town, is a superb base for
walking, climbing and bird-watching.

0
0

GEORGIAN MILITARY HIGHWAY

Kha

Ushguli, 47km southeast of Mestia and reaching up to 2100m above sea level, is claimed be
the highest permanently inhabited place in
Europe, and with more than 20 ancient Svan
towers, it was placed on the Unesco World
Heritage List in 1996. Actually a conglomeration of four villages (from west to east
and lowest to highest: Murqmeli, Chazhashi,
Zhibiani and Chvibiani), Ushguli is a highly
picturesque and atmospheric spot, set in the
highest reaches of the Enguri valley beneath
the snow-covered massif of Mt Shkhara
(5068m), the highest peak in Georgia and
the third highest in the Caucasus. A day trip
from Mestia by jeep costs 150 GEL for up to
six people.
Theres plenty of good walking from
Ushguli: it takes about seven hours to walk
8km up the valley to the foot of the Shkhara
glacier and back. One tower in Chazhashi
houses Ushgulis main Ethnographic Museum (admission 10 GEL; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun), with a superb
collection of gold, silver and wooden icons
and crosses dating back to the 12th century
from Ushgulis seven churches. A second ethnographic museum (admission 5 GEL), in a barn in
Chvibiani, opens erratically and has an assortment of domestic and agricultural artefacts.
At the top end of Ushguli, beautifully situated on a hill below Mt Shkhara, is the 12thcentury Church of the Virgin Mary (Lamaria) with
a defensive tower next to it.

T H E M O U N TA I N S G e o r g i a n M i l i t a r y H i g h w a y

Kh

Ushguli

toilets and hot showers when the electricity

is working.

lonelyplanet.com

iali
Dar rge
Go

weeks in December, January and February,

but the ZugdidiMestia road is normally kept
open all year.
Mestia has an airstrip about 1km east
of town. Flights have been an on-off affair
but may have restarted by the time you go.
Agencies and accommodation in Tbilisi or
Mestia should know the latest.
Most Tbilisi travel agencies (p52) offer
tours with trusted drivers and guides to
Svaneti.

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

T
Ri ergi
ve
r

T H E M O U N TA I N S S o u t h O s s e t i a

TBILISI

Tianeti

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

98

lonelyplanet.com/hotels

are now, with a modern reservoir spread out

below, not exactly what the builders envisaged. Ananuri is 66km north of Tbilisi, at
the northwest end of the Zhinvali Reservoir.
The fortress belonged to the eristavis (dukes)
of Aragvi, who ruled the land as far as the
Tergi Valley from the 13th century onwards,
and was the scene of several battles. In 1739
a rival eristavi, Shamshe of Ksani, set fire to
Ananuri and murdered the Aragvi eristavis
family. Four years later, the peasants of Aragvi
killed their lords and invited King Teimuraz
II of Kartli to rule directly over them. Then
the peasants themselves rose up in 1746, leading Teimuraz and Erekle II of Kakheti to join
forces to subjugate them.
Within the fortress are two 17th-century
churches, the larger of which, the Assumption
Church, is covered with wonderful stone
carving, including a large cross on every
wall. Inside are some vivid 17th- and 18thcentury frescoes including a Last Judgement
on the south wall. You can climb the tallest of the fortress towers, at the top end of
the complex, for fine views: it was here that
the last defenders were killed in the fight with the
Ksani eristavi.

ski season lasts from December to March,

with the best snow in January and February.
The only ATM in the Gudauri-Kazbegi area
is in the Sport Hotel here.
A one-day lift pass costs 25 GEL per day,
and ski-gear rental around 30 GEL to 40 GEL.
An added attraction is heliskiing, operated
by the Swiss company Alpin Travel (www.alpin
travel.ch). For ski-touring possibilities check
www.caucasus-randonnee.org.

Kvesheti

www.gudauri.ge; s/d full board from 271/443 GEL ski season, from 174/287 GEL other times; s) This flagship

This village 40km beyond Ananuri is a good

base for walks or horse rides. A 10km jeep
track heads north up the Khada valley from
Kvesheti, through a dramatic gorge and out
into a more open valley with several small villages and many old stone towers. This was on
the original main route across the Caucasus
before the Georgian Military Highway
was built.
In a roadside apple orchard as you enter
Kvesheti from the south, the welcoming Hotel
Qvesheti (%899114377; www.kvesheti.ge; per person half
board US$25-30) has good, pine-floored rooms,
each with a bathroom, and excellent local
food. You can rent horses here for around 40
GEL per day.

Gudauri
Shortly after Kvesheti the Georgian Military
Highway climbs some 500m by a series of
hairpins up to the ski resort of Gudauri.
The bare hillsides here are among the least
spectacular scenery along the highway but
make for Georgias best downhill ski runs.
These total 16km of varied difficulty, with
good Doppelmayer chairlifts. Normally the

lonelyplanet.com/hotels

T H E M O U N TA I N S G e o r g i a n M i l i t a r y H i g h w a y 101

famous hill-top silhouette of Tsminda Sameba

Church (p102). Kazbegi is the main town of
Khevi, the region north of the Jvari Pass.
Now officially named Stepantsminda,
but still known as Kazbegi, this is a sleepy
mountain town at about 1750m altitude, with
mainly Soviet-era buildings. Its a favourite
with backpackers for its relatively easy access
from Tbilisi (with dramatic scenery along the
way), its plentiful homestays and the walking
in the area.

(admission 1 GEL; Stalinis qucha; h 10am-5pm), in

ORIENTATION & INFORMATION

yahoo.com; Gergeti; per person 15 GEL, half board 25 GEL)

The Georgian Military Highway brings you

straight into Kazbegis main square, Stalinis
moedani, with its statue of Alexander Kazbegi
as well as the marshrutka and taxi stops and
the Stepantsminda Hotel. Here Stalinis qucha
forks to the right, while the main road leads
down to a bridge over the Tergi River, 200m
from the square, then continues towards the
Dariali Gorge. Immediately after the Tergi
bridge a side road turns up to the village of
Gergeti on the left (west) bank of the river,
almost a suburb of Kazbegi.
The nearest ATM is in the Sport Hotel at
Gudauri. You might be able to change euros
or US dollars at the Stepantsminda Hotel or
at shops or kiosks.
A useful map in English and Georgian
of local walking trails is available for 5 GEL
from the Georgian Botanical Institute (Stepantsmindis
qucha; hMay-Oct), which is widely known as the
WWF Ecostation (a previous incarnation of
the building).

Nazis house is the backpackers favourite

for its good prices, good meals and sociable
atmosphere, with beds squeezed into every
available room. Daughter Shorena speaks
English. If you walk up towards Gergeti and
turn left along the second street, opposite
the green khinkali hut, Nazis is the first
two-storey house on the right. Many others
along this street have rooms too.
Hotel Lomi (% 899403264; Stalinis moedani; per
person 15 GEL) On the town square, the Lomi
is a simple family-run place with agreeable little blue-painted rooms sharing
hot-water bathrooms.
Nunu Maisuradze (%52593; per person 15 GEL, half
board 30 GEL) A good option with a friendly
family and views of Tsminda Sameba and
the mountains from the balcony. Theres
one very nice clean bathroom with a hot
bath. Daughter Gvantsa speaks English. The
house is 50m up the street opposite Hotel
Stepantsminda, with green gates.
Luiza Tsiklauri (%52353; Vazha Pshavela 34; per person half board US$20) Luiza speaks German and
has plenty of space for travellers, as well as a
hot-water bathroom. Pass Nunus, then turn
right at the top of the street. Luizas is on
the left and has a grey gate.
Kamuna Sujashvili (%52017; Vazha Pshavela 40;
per person half board 35 GEL) This new two-storey
house, next to Luiza Tsiklauris, has three
good-sized, very clean rooms and an upstairs
balcony with mountain views.
Nargiza Alibegashvili (%877415454; makasu75@

SLEEPING & EATING

Gudauri has about a dozen hotels, with more

being constructed. The following are open
year-round.
Sno-3 (%899557309; per person half board Dec-Apr
US$35, May-Nov US$25) One of the cheapest options, this is a small and cosy four-room place
in front of the Sport Hotel, with three showers
and free chacha.
Hotel Gudauri Hut (%899398123; www.gudaurihut
.com; per person half board ski season US$60-65, other times
US$40) A medium-sized hotel a short distance

up the road from the resort centre, Gudauri

Hut offers pleasant, pine-furnished rooms
with good views. Ski rental is available and
some staff speak English.
Sport Hotel Gudauri (%32-202900, 899559222;
1980s hotel is still Gudauris best and the main
chairlift starts right behind it. It has a host of
free indoor-activity facilities open year-round:
clay-court tennis, 10-pin bowling, billiards, a
sauna and an excellent pool (all available to
outsiders for 50 GEL per three hours).

Jvari Pass
The Jvari (Cross) Pass starts about 4km after
Gudauri; 2379m high, it takes its name from
a cross placed here by King David the Builder.
The present red stone cross, about 500m to the
right above the road, was erected by General
Yermolov in 1824. This part of the road is
notorious for avalanches, but galleries have
been built for winter traffic and the pass stays
open for all but a few days most years.

Kazbegi
%245

This is most peoples destination on the

Georgian Military Highway: a spectacularly
located town just a few kilometres south of
the Russian border, with the snowy peak of
Mt Kazbek towering to the west, behind the

ALEXANDER KAZBEGI MUSEUM

Alexander Kazbegi (184893) made the

unusual decision to become a shepherd
after studying in Tbilisi, St Petersburg and
Moscow. Later he worked as a journalist
and wrote the novels and plays that made
him famous. At the end of his life he suffered from insanity. He died in Tbilisi, but
his coffin was carried back to Kazbegi. His
museum is a five-minute walk north from
the main square. You first come to a church,
dated 180911, with a striking relief of two
lions with a chain above its door. To its east
and west are two structures that look like
bell towers but are actually the tombs of
Alexanders father and mother. The writers
own grave lies under a large stone sculpture near the fence. He asked to be buried
where he could see Mt Kazbek. The museum

Kazbegis house, to the left of the church,

contains photos, documents and some
clothes and original furniture.
SLEEPING & EATING

Kazbegi is very well supplied with homestays

(those mentioned here are just a selection),
all of which provide meals of basic but tasty
Georgian food. Many are closed outside the
main season (May to early November).
Nazi Chkareuli (%52480, 895500989; ssujashvili@

yahoo.com; Stepantsmindis qucha; per person full board

US$30) Nargizas modern, three-storey home

stands in splendid isolation just to the right

of the TV dishes at the top of Kazbegi. There
are three big, spotless rooms, the views
are fabulous and the food is just as good.
Daughter Maka speaks English. Its best to
make contact a day ahead.

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

100 T H E M O U N TA I N S G e o r g i a n M i l i t a r y H i g h w a y

Hotel Stepantsminda (%899646880; Stalinis moedani; s/d 50/80 GEL, half board 90/140 GEL) This most
luxurious, alpine-style option provides goodsized, carpeted rooms with TV, and lovely
views of Mt Kazbek from the rooms at the
back. Its basement restaurant has a nice terrace but is only open to hotel guests.
The eating-out choices are very limited.
The Hotel Lomi restaurant serves good, inexpensive homemade food, and the green
khinkali hut on the road up to Gergeti provides khinkali and khachapuri in summer.
GETTING THERE & AWAY

Marshrutkas to Kazbegi (8 GEL, three hours)

leave Didube bus station in Tbilisi every one
or two hours from 9am to 5pm. From Kazbegi
to Tbilisi, departures are timetabled at 8am,
9am, 10am and 11am, and 1.30pm, 3pm
and 5pm.
A taxi to or from Tbilisi can cost anywhere
between 50 and 80 GEL.

Around Kazbegi
There are many wonderful walks in the mountains around Kazbegi. For jeep taxis to the
start of the more distant ones, ask your accommodation to arrange one or simply find
one in the main square. The walking season
is from May or June to October or November,
depending on the weather.
TSMINDA SAMEBA CHURCH

The 14th-century Holy Trinity Church above

Kazbegi at 2200m has become something of a
symbol of Georgia its beauty and piety and
the fierce determination to build it on such
a lofty, isolated perch are all emblematic of
the country and its people. The walk up to
the church and the panoramas this affords
are a highlight of Georgia. In 1988 the Soviet
authorities constructed a cable-car line to
the church, with one station in Kazbegi and
the other right next to Tsminda Sameba. The
people of Kazbegi quite rightly felt this defiled their sacred place and soon destroyed it.
You can still see its base in the village, almost
behind the Alexander Kazbegi Museum.
It takes about 1 hours at an average pace
to walk to the church from Kazbegi. Head up
through Gergeti, turn right at a T-junction
towards the top of the village, then go up a
narrow path to the left after 20m. This leaves
the village behind and reaches a broader vehicle track, with a cemetery to your right. Follow

lonelyplanet.com

the track up to the left, winding through the

woods, and after approximately 30 minutes
walking you will emerge in an open area. Here
take a path up to the left through the trees
and in five minutes youll rejoin the track in
grassy meadows with the church in view to the
left just five minutes more walk.
Vakhushti Batonishvili wrote in the 18th
century that in times of danger the treasures
from Mtskheta, as well as St Ninos cross, were
kept here for safety. The beautifully weathered
stone of the church and its separate belltower
are decorated with some intriguing carvings,
one on the belltower appearing to show two
dinosaurs. The interior is not particularly
unusual, but certainly well worth a look if
you get this far!
GERGETI GLACIER

If youre up for another 900m of ascent from

Tsminda Sameba, this quite strenuous walk
rewards with spectacular views. The path
heads straight up the ridge behind the church;
an alternative route, more protected on windy
days, runs up the left flank of the ridge. The
two meet at a cairn at 2960m altitude, from
where a path leads on up towards the left side
of the Gergeti (Ortsveri) Glacier as it snakes
its way down from Mt Kazbek. Head up here
for about one hour for views of the glacier,
then return. Youll need about nine hours to
get up there from Kazbegi and down again
the same day.
If you have a day in hand and are experienced on ice or have a good guide, its possible, with a further 600m of ascent, to cross
the glacier and climb to the Betlemi Hut (per
person US$10), formerly a meteorological station, at 3652m, where you can sleep. The hut
has bunks and beds, but bring food, a warm
sleeping bag and cooking gear. You can camp
for free but the wind can be fierce.
SNO VALLEY

The Sno Valley runs southeast off the Georgian

Military Highway 4km south of Kazbegi.
About 15km along the unpaved valley road
is the small village of Juta (2150m), inhabited
by Khevsurs from over the mountains to the
east. You can get a jeep from Kazbegi to Juta
for around 45 GEL round trip. A beautiful
short walk from Juta goes southeast up the
Chaukhi valley to the foot of Mt Chaukhi
(3842m), a dramatic multipinnacled peak
popular with climbers, just 1 hours from

lonelyplanet.com

T H E M O U N TA I N S K h e v s u re t i 103

MT KAZBEK
This 5047m extinct volcano towering west of Kazbegi has much folk history. The Greek Prometheus
was supposedly chained up here for stealing fire from the gods, as was the Georgian Amirani, for
challenging the omnipotence of God. Amiranis abode was somewhere near the Betlemi (Bethlehem)
cave, 4000m above sea level, where resided a hermit and many very sacred objects Christs manger,
Abrahams tent, a dove-rocked golden cradle whose sight would blind a human being. There were
taboos against hunting on the mountain and climbing it. Not surprisingly, the first to conquer this
peak were foreigners: Freshfield, Tucker and Moore of the London Alpine Club in 1868.
There is indeed a cave at 4000m, near the Betlemi Hut (opposite), which serves as the base for
most Kazbek ascents today. At the hut you may be able to get an experienced local guide (nonEnglish speaking) to lead you up the mountain for 150 to 200 per person though to ensure
guide services its best to take a (more expensive) package with an experienced agency such as
Explore Georgia (p52).
The ascent of the mountain is technically straightforward, though there is some danger in
crevasses. The climb generally takes three or four days from Kazbegi.
Day 1 Hike from Kazbegi up to the Betlemi Hut at 3652m. Its also possible to camp at 2950m,
about 2 hours short of the hut.
Day 2 Spend the day acclimatising by climbing up to the Maili Plateau at 4500m, or to the
summit of Ortsveri Peak (4365m) and then back down to the Betlemi Hut.
Day 3 Leave in the early hours of the morning and follow the north side of the glacier westward for 4km, passing south of the summit cone, and then up to the broad, snow-covered
Maili Plateau at 4500m. Steeper climbing then leads back east to a saddle at 4900m, followed
by mixed snow, rock and ice to the summit (six hours). This final section involves about three
rope lengths of 35- to 40-degree ice. Descend to the Betlemi Hut for the night (five hours).
Day 4 Descend to Kazbegi.

Juta. With more time you can continue up the

valley eastward from here towards the 3338m
Roshka (Chaukhi) Pass. In one long day from
Juta you can get over the pass and down to
Roshka village in Khevsureti (p104).
In Juta, Iago Arabuli (%899533239) and Soso
Arabuli (%895545149) have homestays, both
charging 25 GEL per person with dinner
and breakfast. Iago speaks German and his
wife English, and they boast a Western-style
toilet.
DARIALI GORGE

North of Kazbegi the Georgian Military

Highway follows the Tergi River 11km to
the Russian border in the grimly spectacular
Dariali Gorge. Here granite cliffs tower over
the road, which runs along a narrow shelf
above the river. The gorge inspired much
awe among 19th-century Russian artists and
writers such as Lermontov and Pushkin.
Much of the gorge is across the Russian border, but you can walk or take a taxi (around
20 GEL return) as far as Tamars Castle, on a big
rock above the left bank of the Tergi, 10km
out of Kazbegi. These ruins are from many

different periods. This Tamar, a legendary

cruel beauty who chopped off her lovers
heads, is not to be confused with the great
12th-century queen of Georgia.
From Gveleti, 3km before Tamars Castle, a
fine day walk heads up through birch forests
and rocky wildernesses to Devdoraki Glacier on
the east flank of Mt Kazbek. Its 9km from
Gveleti to the glacier, with an ascent of 1100m:
allow nine or 10 hours there and back. At
research time this route was blocked by rock
falls, so check beforehand.

KHEVSURETI
The mountain region east of Khevi is
Khevsureti, a sparsely populated district
bordering Chechnya that is home to some
fantastic mountain defensive architecture
and some unique traditions including a
part-animist religion, the wearing of chain
mail well into the 20th century and costumes
embroidered with unusual, tiny cross and
star patterns as well as being credited with
inventing khinkali.
Today Khevsuretis old culture is clinging to life. But its spectacular villages and

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

102 T H E M O U N TA I N S G e o r g i a n M i l i t a r y H i g h w a y

very steep route over the 3431m Atsunta Pass

into Tusheti.

lonelyplanet.com

T H E M O U N TA I N S Tu s h e t i 105

0
0

KHEVSURETI & TUSHETI

20 km
12 miles

Shatili

ey

Atsunta
Pass
(3431m)

TUSHETI
RANGE
Girevi
er
v
i
Parsma
R
Chesho
Nakaicho Pass
Dartlo
(2900m)
Verkhovani

Barisakho

hetis)

Omalo

Diklo
Shenakho

GE
ET

Pa
n
Go kisi
rg
e

KH
KA

er

PSHAVI

Abano (Tseri)
Pass
(2900m)

Riv

Psha

I R
AN

vis A

ge
Ran

kari
ama

(Tus

az
Al

ver

Gud

tsari

Jvarboseli

i
Dochu
an River

Gom

Mt Diklos
(4285m)
Chigo

TUSHETI

Magharoskari

Ananuri

Andaki
Pass
(2887m)

Shuapkho

ragv

Chargali

or

i Riv
er

Khoshara

Pasanauri

Mt Tebulos
(4492m)

Al
az
an
i

gu

Ar

Korsha

Ps
Ge

nV

all

gvi

Andaki
Datvis-Jvari
Pass
(2876m)

Pirikiti

ha

vis

Ar

Ardoti

Kistani

i Ri

Tucked into Georgias far northeast corner,

with Chechnya to its north and Dagestan to
its east, Tusheti is an increasingly popular
summer hiking area but remains one of the
countrys remotest and most fascinating and
pristine high-mountain regions. The road
over the nerve-jangling 2900m Abano (Tseri)
Pass was not built until 1978; Tusheti still has
no public electricity supply, and evidence of
its old animist religion is plentiful in the form
of stone shrines known as khatis, decked with
the horns of sacrificed goats or sheep, which
women are not permitted to approach. Tall
defensive towers (koshkis) still stand in many
villages, many of them dating back 600 years
or more.
Today most Tusheti folk only go up to
Tusheti in summer: to graze their sheep or
cattle, attend festivals, cater for tourists and
generally reconnect with their roots. Many
have winter homes in and around Alvani in
Kakheti. The road to Tusheti is only open from
about early June to early October, and some of
the homestays may not open till July.
Tusheti has two main river valleys the
Pirikiti Alazani and the more southerly

Gudani

Roshka

KHEVI

Khakhmati

zan

TUSHETI

Mt Chaukhi
(3842m)

(CHECHNYA)

Ala

Zhinvali
Reservoir

Pshaveli

Zhinvali

River

Akhmeta

To
Tbilisi
(45km)

Aragvi

One bus a day leaves Tbilisis Didube bus station for Barisakho (8 GEL, three to four hours,
5pm) and Korsha, 2km beyond. The bus sets
off back for Tbilisi from Korsha at 8.30am.
Beyond Korsha, its a question of walking or
trying to get a lift with one of the few passing
vehicles, unless you have your own transport
or can organise some from Tbilisi.

Juta

Hig h w ay

Getting There & Away

KHEVSURETI

Roshka
(Chaukhi)
Pass
(3338m)
Biso

Sno

Military

In Korsha, you can stay with Shota Arabuli

(%32-452099, 895503134; per person half board 20 GEL),
artist and curator of the local museum.
In Roshka, photographer Shota Tsiklauri
(%899399789; per person half board 20 GEL) has rooms
in his comfy house at the top of the village.
Shatili has three or four homestays, including Vazha Chincharaulis (%877729362), which has
hot water and can normally provide meals.
The others generally charge 25 GEL per
person without food (they may be able to
provide potatoes, bread and cheese). Theres
also a hotel (per person US$25, half board US$35).

RUSSIA

Mutso

Giorgitsminda
Kazbegi

Ilto

Sleeping

an
gi

landscapes of steep, forested valleys and

blooming mountain pastures are still there
to be enjoyed by determined travellers who
dont mind the scarcity of transport and food.
Incipient tourism provides some sustenance
for a few villagers. Those visitors who come
should bring at least some food with them,
and some warm clothes as it can get cold at
night even in summer. Its also a big help if
youre prepared to camp.
The road to Khevsureti turns northeast
off the Georgian Military Highway shortly
before the Zhinvali Reservoir and runs up
the Pshavis Aragvi valley to the villages of
Barisakho and Biso, before turning east (now a
jeep track) and over the high Datvis-Jvari Pass
(open from about June to October), and then
northeast down the Argun valley to Shatili, the
main village of inner Khevsureti.
Barisakho, about 100km from Tbilisi, is the
largest village of the region, with a population
of about 200. At Korsha, 2km past Barisakho,
theres a small but interesting museum of
Khevsur life, with armour, weapons, agricultural implements and the art of its curator,
Shota Arabuli. From Korsha its about a 7km
walk up to Roshka, a small, muddy village
off the main road, on the route towards the
Roshka (Chaukhi) Pass (see p103).
East of Biso, Gudani village, about 1km up
from the road, is a striking group of tower
houses on a rock outcrop. Some 8km past
Gudani comes the Datvis-Jvari Pass (2876m),
from which its 18km northeast to Shatili.
Shatilis old town, built between the 7th and
13th centuries, is an agglomeration of tall
towers clinging together on a rocky outcrop
to form a single fortress-like whole. The old
town was abandoned between the 1960s and
80s, and the new village, of about 20 houses,
is just around the hill. But several towers
have recently been restored and one contains
a museum.
From Shatili the track continues 3km
northeast to the border of Chechnya. Before
the border youll encounter a No Entry sign,
but you can turn south up the Andaki valley to
almost-empty Mutso, about 8km from Shatili.
Mutsos roofless old village on a very steep
rock pinnacle across the river is one of the
most spectacular in Khevsureti, with large
stone tombs in which you can see human
skulls. Ardoti is 6km further up the valley
beyond Mutso. From Andaki (uninhabited),
a similar distance beyond Ardoti, begins the

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

Gomtsari (Tushetis) Alazani which meet

below Omalo, the biggest village, then flow
east into Dagestan. The scenery everywhere
is a spectacular mix of high, snow-covered,
rocky peaks, deep gorges, and steep, grassy
hillsides where distant flocks of sheep appear
as slowly shifting patterns of white specks.
You can find a reasonable Tusheti map on
Tusheti Protected Areas (www.tushe tipa.ge).

Sights & Activities

Most of the villages are around 2000m above
sea level and have picturesque settings, either
sitting above near-sheer hillsides or nestling
down by one of the rivers. Theres a particularly splendid group of old towers, known as
Keseloebi, on top of the crag at Zemo Omalo,
the upper part of Omalo. Shenakho, a few kilometres east of Omalo, is one of the prettiest
villages, with its houses of stone, slate and
rickety wooden balconies grouped around
Tushetis only functioning church. Diklo, 4km
northeast of Shenakho, has an old fortress
perched on a spectacular rock promontory.
Dartlo, about 12km northwest of Omalo
in the Pirikiti Alazani valley, has another

Alvani
Alaverdi
Cathedral

Telavi

Al

az

an

iR

Tsinandali

ive

spectacular tower grouping, overlooked by

the single tall lookout tower of Kvavlo on the
hill 350m above.
Walking routes are innumerable. Omalo
to Shenakho and Shenakho to Diklo are two
good short walks of a couple of hours each
(one way). A good route of about five days
starts in Omalo or Shenakho, runs up the
Pirikiti Alazani valley to Dartlo and Chesho,
then crosses the 2900m Nakaicho Pass over
to Verkhovani in the Gomtsari Alazani valley,
and returns down the Gomtsari Alazani.
The track up the Pirikiti Alazani valley
beyond Chesho, through Parsma and Girevi,
eventually leads to the 3431m Atsunta Pass,
a very steep and demanding route over
into Khevsureti. Its a one-week trek all the
way from Shenakho or Omalo to Shatili
in Khevsureti.
If you prefer to ride, horses are available
in Omalo and Shenakho for between 35 GEL
and 70 GEL per day.
Several Tbilisi travel agencies offer tours
and treks in Tusheti. A good one run by a
Tusheti native, the fluent English-speaking
Eka Chvritidze, is Wild Georgia (p52).

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

104 T H E M O U N TA I N S Tu s h e t i

er
Riv

isi
nk

Pa

rg

er

Pshaveli
Riv
Napareuli
Gremi
Alvani
Alaverdi
Eniseli
Cathedral

Intsob

Go
Akhmeta

Zemo Khodasheni
Ikalto
Monastery

Gombori Pass
(1650m)

Telavi
Akhali
Shuamta

Al

Nekresi Monastery

az

Kvareli

an

Tsinandali

iR

ive

Lagodekhi
Nature
Reserve

Dzveli
Shuamta

Lagodekhi

Ujarma
Ninotsminda

M5

Sagarejo
Manavi

M5

Gurjaani

By the 12th century Telavi was one of the

main trade centres in Georgia. In the 13th
century Telavi was caught in the onslaught of
the Mongol invasion, to revive in the 15th to
16th centuries, and then be twice devastated
by the Persias Shah Abbas I in the early 17th
century. In 1672 the Kakhetian King Archil II
moved his court back to Telavi from Gremi.
In 1744, as the Turks threatened Persian

Balakn

AZERBAIJAN

Sighnaghi

Tsnori

Zaqatala

To Tbilisi
(20km)

Bodbe
Convent

Rustavi

Gamarjveba

Udabno

Dedoplistskaro

Davit Gareja
Gardabani

Riv

er

Krasny
Most

Kasristskali

Vashlovani
National Park

%350 (international), %250 (domestic) /

pop 22,000

History

RUSSIA

TELAVI

The largest town in Kakheti, Telavi is set in the

vineyard-strewn Alazani valley, between the
Gombori Mountains and the Caucasus (visible to the northeast). Though of only moderate interest itself, its the perfect base for
exploring the historical, architectural and viticultural riches of Kakheti, and as a jumpingoff point for Tusheti in the Caucasus.

20 km
12 miles

(DAGESTAN)

ri

When the Abano Pass is open, Niva 4WDs

run daily to Tusheti from Alvani, 22km
northwest of Telavi, charging 180 GEL for
three or four passengers to Omalo. You can
also hire one to pick you up for the return
trip. Be at Alvani by 9am they mostly
leave from the central crossroads there. The
spectacular drive takes about four hours plus
stops.
For a cheaper, less comfortable and even
more exciting ride, most days a large Kamaz
truck carrying a mix of freight and passengers
(20 GEL, standing in the back) lurches its way
precariously from Alvani up to Tusheti, taking six or seven hours to Omalo. They leave
any time between 6am and noon, when they
have a load.

Omalo
Abano (Tseri)
Pass (2900m)
TUSHETI

KAKHETI
The eastern region of Kakheti is Georgias
wine country. Hundreds of different grapes
are grown here, and every village has its own
particular variety. Almost everywhere you
go in Kakheti, at almost any time of day,
youll be invited to a glass of wine and its
easy to find yourself wandering around in a
semipermanent mellow haze.
Kakheti is also an area rich in history and
was an independent or semi-independent
kingdom for long periods. Here youll find
the incredible monastery complex of Davit
Gareja, many beautiful churches, castles
and mansions around the main town,
Telavi, and picturesque Sighnaghi, which
is being developed as the capital of wine
tourism.
A very good time to visit is September
or October, when the rtveli (grape harvest)
is being taken in, to the accompaniment of
feasts, musical events and other celebrations.
Many accommodation places can organise
for you to see the harvest in action and join
in the partying. The region is famous for its
drinking songs, the most famous of all being
Mravalzhamieri.

0
0

KAKHETI

Io

Getting There & Away

Marshrutkas run to Alvani (2 GEL, 45 minutes, once or twice an hour, 9am to 5pm) from
the old bus station in Telavi.

K A K H E T I Te l a v i 107

i
zan
Ala ver
Ri

There are no real hotels in Tusheti but plenty

of guesthouses and homestays. The typical
price is 50 GEL to 60 GEL per person, including three meals. It is best to head for
places where you know there is a functioning
guesthouse or homestay, and if possible make
arrangements in advance.
In Omalo, the Koroichi Guesthouse (%898156728)
is a substantial wood and concrete place near
the electricity station at the top of Kvemo
(Lower) Omalo. A new guesthouse was under
construction in Zemo (Upper) Omalo, the older
part of the village, at the time of research.
In Shenakho, Dato Bukvaidze (%899616619)
and his parents run a comfortable guesthouse
with spring-fed running water, a hot shower
and three pleasant wood-walled rooms. Wild
Georgia agency (p52) also has a house here,
just below the church.
Dartlo has several accommodation places.
Just above the ruined Russian church at the
foot of the village, Beso Elanidze (%899118993)
has two good, recently converted guesthouses
with electric light, showers and Western-style
toilets. Meals are available.
In Chesho, the first house on the right
as you enter the village from the east, a
substantial three-storey wooden construction, is Eka Abaloidzes Guesthouse (%855570512,
899618734). Set just above a rushing stream,
it has 14 beds, solar-heated showers and 15
horses for rent.
There are also guesthouses or homestays
at Verkhovani and Dochu in the Gomtsari
Alazani valley.

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Ilto

Sleeping

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

AZERBAIJAN

hegemony in eastern Georgia, Nader Shah

of Persia installed the local prince Erekle II
in Telavi as ruler of Kakheti. Erekle and his
father, King Teimuraz II of Kartli, managed
to establish themselves as de facto independent rulers, and in 1762 Erekle united Kakheti
and Kartli as a more or less independent state,
ruling with a progressive Westernising policy.
Erekle still occupies an honoured place in
Kakheti annals today.

Orientation
The centre of Telavi is Erekle II moedani,
with the Batonistsikhe Castle on its north
side. Erekle meoris (Erekle II) gamziri heads
300m northwest from here to an intersection
where Ketevan Tsamebuli runs 250m down-

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

106 K A K H E T I Te l a v i

hill (north) to meet another main avenue,

Chavchavadze. Telavis two bus and marshrutka stations are straight on downhill here
on Alazanis gamziri the new bus station on
the left and the old one through a short alley
to the right after 200m.

Information
Youll find ATMs around the intersection
of Chavchavadze and Ketevan Tsamebuli
(near the bus stations), and on Erekle
meoris gamziri.
1001 Computers (Erekle meoris gamziri 3; internet per
hr 2 GEL; h9am-8pm)
Telephone Office (Erekle meoris gamziri 10; h24 hr)
Tourism Information Centre (%76338; Erekle II
moedani 12; h10am-6pm) In an attractive verandahed

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

0
0

TELAVI

400 m
0.3 miles

s qu
ch

10

Al a
zan
is g
am
z

beli

To Ikalto Monastery (8km);

Akhali Shuamta (13km);
Zemo Khodasheni (15km);
Dzveli Shuamta (16km);
Alaverdi Cathedral (20km)

16

Chavchavadzis

gamziri

Ketevan
Tsamebulis
qucha
Saakadzis qucha

15

st a v

a s q u c ha

Bakh
trion
i

2
1

To Tsinandali (10km);
Sighnaghi (60km)

Ere
kl e
14

me
or i
sg
6
am
ziri
Erekle II
moedani
12
ik
v ar
is q
u

elis
Rusqtauvcha

11

13

quc
ha

C h on
kadzi
s qu
cha
Kavk
asio
nis q
ucha

TRANSPORT
New bus station........................... 16 C2
Old bus station............................ 17 C2

imur az
5

Chavch
avadz
is ga
mz
iri

cha

EATING
Caf Lucky Strike......................... 14 C3
Dzveli Galavani............................. 15 B3

ebas
hvili
s

s qu
cha

Na d

B4
C1
A2
C4
C4
D4 Gog

beli

Te

Ko

e ne

s qucha

C3
C3
B2
C2
C3
C3

SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES

Batonistsikhe Castle........................ 7 C3
SLEEPING
Guesthouse Nelly........................... 8
Hotel Alazani Valley........................ 9
Hotel Rcheuli Marani.................... 10
Nineli Zaridze............................... 11
Paata & Tyna Shaverdashvili........ 12
Tushishvili Guesthouse................. 13

Agh
ma
sh

17

INFORMATION
1001 Computers............................ 1
ATM.............................................. 2
ATM.............................................. 3
ATM.............................................. 4
Telephone Office........................... 5
Tourism Information Centre........... 6

building on the main square, with English-speaking staff

and information on all Kakheti, including accommodation
and winery listings.

Batonistsikhe Castle

The main architectural and historical feature of Telavi, Batonistsikhe Castle (admission 5
GEL, English-speaking guide 6 GEL; h10am-5pm Tue-Sun)

was the residence of the Kakhetian kings

in the 17th and 18th centuries, built when
King Archil II transferred his residence from
Gremi to Telavi. Inside the castle yard is a
Persian-style palace that was constructed in
the 1660s, and rebuilt by Erekle II, who was
born and died here. The central throne room

rooms are large, theres a guest kitchen, and

you can have a nice hot soak in the old marble
bathtub! Daughter Nino speaks English.
Paata & Tyna Shaverdashvili (%72185; Nadikvari 9;
per person 20 GEL) This friendly little homestay has
clean, spacious rooms and hot showers, in a
quiet house. Nadikvari runs off the southeast
corner of Erekle II moedani; at number 9, go
through to the back of the street entrance and
its the building in front of you.
Tushishvili Guesthouse (% 71909, 877756625;
sspiridon@rambler.ru; Nadikvari 15; per person without/with
breakfast 25/30 GEL; i) This welcoming homestay

quagr
ch a tio
a n is

ene

Vardoshvilis
qucha

Agh
ma
sh

iri

To Gremi (19km);
Napareuli (20km);
Nekresi Monastery (33km);
Kvareli (35km)

lonelyplanet.com

is an established travellers favourite and justly

so. Hostess Svetlana speaks some English,
cooks fabulous dinners (vegetarian available)
and is more than helpful in organising local
taxi trips and getting transport information.
Nadikvari runs off the southeast corner of
Erekle II moedani; the house is numbered.
Guesthouse Nelly (%72594, 99581820; Chonkadze
11; per person half board 35 GEL) The six big, bright,
modern rooms here, 500m uphill (south) of
the centre, share bathrooms with hot showers.
Nelly cooks excellent Georgian meals with
fresh, locally grown ingredients, and the wine
flows. Nelly and her husband between them
speak a little English and German.
Hotel Alazani Valley (%74144; www.elgitour.ge;
Alazanis gamziri 75; r incl dinner 50-120 GEL; a) The
lobby is spiffy and the rooms comfy enough,
but this early-21st-century hotel already has
a few cracks, and the atmosphere is rather
soulless.
oHotel Rcheuli Marani (%73030; rcheuli
marani@centerpoint.ge; Chavchavadze 154; r incl breakfast US$50-70, ste US$75-100; a) New in 2007

holds many historical portraits including one

of Erekle himself (above the throne).
The castle precinct contains the remains of
two churches: the dilapidated Archil church
and a single-naved royal chapel with holes
for firearms in the walls built by Erekle II
in 1758. Included in the admission price are
an art museum, with Georgian and western
European paintings, and a history museum, in
ugly modern buildings behind the palace.

Sleeping
Nineli Zaridze (%71973, 899281144; Akhvlediani 11;
per person without/with breakfast 20/25 GEL) Ninelis
beautiful house, full of antique furniture, is a
two-minute walk from Erekle II moedani. The

and definitely the best hotel in town, the

Rcheuli Marani is out of the centre, 800m
west of the bus stations. Many of the pleasing, carpeted rooms are equipped with big,
traditional-style balconies, and prints of paintings by Pirosmani and other top Georgian
artists add a welcome arty touch. The hotel
also has the best restaurant in town and a nice
courtyard garden.

Eating
Restaurant provision is rather bare, but luckily if you are in a homestay youll usually eat
excellently.
Caf Lucky Strike (Erekle II moedani; dishes 2-6
GEL) This unexciting caf next to the tourist office does average Turkish-style kebabs
and pizzas.

K A K H E T I A r o u n d Te l a v i 109

Dzveli Galavani (Kostava 4; mains 4-8 GEL; hnoon8pm) A friendly little Georgian restaurant
doing the best meals outside the hotels and
homestays. It has an English-language menu,
though not much of it may be available.
Hotel Rcheuli Marani (%73030; Chavchavadze 154;
mains 10-15 GEL) Telavis best eatery is this brickcellar hotel restaurant incorporating an old
wine cellar. A good range of Georgian and
Russian dishes is on offer.

Getting There & Away

Marshrutkas to Telavi (6 GEL, 2 hours) leave
Tbilisis Ortachala bus station about every
30 minutes from 7am to 6pm. There are also
shared taxis (per person 7 GEL) from Tbilisis
Isani metro station.
Marshrutkas back to Tbilisi go about hourly
from 8.30am to 1pm from Telavis new bus station
(%72083; Alazanis gamziri), then more frequently
until 5pm from another stop below the petrol
station down the street. Shared taxis to Tbilisi
wait up the street from the new bus station.
The old bus station (%71619; Alazanis gamziri) is
through a short alley opposite the new bus
station. From here marshrutkas and buses
leave for Alaverdi Cathedral (1 GEL, about
every 20 minutes, 9am to 6pm), Kvareli (2
GEL, one to 1 hours, about hourly, 9.30am
to 5.30pm), Tsinandali (0.50 GEL, at least
hourly, 9am to 4pm) and Sighnaghi (4 GEL,
1 hours, at 3pm). Taxis wait on the corner
of Chavchavadze and Ketevan Tsamebuli just
up the street from the bus stations.

AROUND TELAVI
The villages and lovely countryside around
Telavi are full of fascinating places to visit.
Public transport reaches many of them (see
above), but you can pack a lot more into
your day by taking a taxi tour. Telavi drivers
will take you to all or most of the following
destinations in one trip for 40 or 50 GEL.

Ikalto Monastery
This monastery, beautifully situated in a grove
of cypresses 8km northwest of Telavi, was one
of two famous medieval Georgian academies,
the other being Gelati. Shota Rustaveli, the
national poet, is thought to have studied here.
The monastery was founded in the 6th century
by Zenon, one of the 13 Syrian fathers. Six
hundred years later King David the Builder
invited the philosopher Arsen Ikaltoeli to establish an academy here, where the doctrines

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

108 K A K H E T I Te l a v i

of Neo-Platonism were expounded. In 1616

the complex was devastated by the Persians.
The main Transfiguration Church was built
in the 8th and 9th centuries, over an earlier
church where Zenon was buried, but its appearance was changed in the 19th century by
the addition of a brick cupola and the whitewashing of the walls in the Russian style. To
the east, the small Sameba (Trinity) Church dates
back to the 6th century but has been extensively rebuilt over time. Theres an interesting small relief of three saints at the top of
its faade. The single-naved Kvelatsminda (St
Marys Church), to the south, dates from the
12th to 13th centuries. The roofless building
behind this was the Academy.
Ikalto is 2km uphill from the Monastery
Ikalto sign on the Akhmeta road.

Alaverdi Cathedral
At the beginning of the 11th century, when
Georgia was entering its cultural and political golden age, King Kvirike of Kakheti had
a majestic cathedral built at 50m high it
was the tallest church in Georgia until the
recent construction of the Tsminda Sameba
Cathedral in Tbilisi. Alaverdi Cathedral (h8am7pm), 20km northwest of Telavi, is the main
spiritual centre in Kakheti and a source of
great pride and love for the local people. The
exterior is classically proportioned with majestic rounded arches but minimal decoration, typical of Kakhetian churches. Inside,
one is struck by the structures beautiful
spacious harmony and the light that streams
in from the 16 windows in the cupola. The
cathedral has been damaged several times by
earthquakes, especially in the 15th and 18th
centuries. Whitewashing in the 19th century
was yet another form of damage and it was
not until 1966 that this was partially rectified
and some frescoes uncovered. Note the 16thcentury St George and dragon over the west
door. The Virgin and Child above the altar is
from the 11th century.
A nunnery was added to the monastery
here in the 17th century, and some members
of the royal family took the veil here. Other
buildings include the summer palace of Shah
Abbas governor (the ruins of which have now
been restored as the bishops residence), a bathhouse, a bell tower and a recently renovated
marani (wine cellar).
The September festivities of Alaverdoba
last three weeks, climaxing on 14 September,

lonelyplanet.com

with people coming from remote mountain

areas to celebrate.

Gremi
This picturesque brick citadel (admission to museum
& tower 2 GEL; h9am-8pm) stands on a small hill
by the TelaviKvareli road 19km from Telavi,
just before the village of Eniseli. Both Eniseli
and Gremi are famous for their brandy.
Kvareli-bound marshrutkas from Telavi will
stop here.
From 1466 to 1672 Gremi was the capital
of Kakheti, but all that remains of the market,
the baths, the caravanserai, the palace and the
houses after the devastation wrought by Shah
Abbas in 1616 are some not-very-distinctive
ruins. The impressive citadel, however, still
stands. Within it, the Church of the Archangels
was built in 1565 by King Levan of Kakheti
(who is buried inside) and contains frescoes
painted in 1577. The ground floor of the
adjacent tower-palace, dating from the 15th
century, houses a small museum of local archaeological and historical items. From here
you climb up inside the tower: a structure in
one of the rooms was thought to be a bread
oven, but on examination turned out to be a
tunnel, not yet fully excavated but thought to
emerge in the yard outside. Another tunnel,
which you can enter, leads down from the
yard to the foot of the walls where in past
centuries the Intsoba River flowed, providing a possible escape route from the citadel
in times of danger.

Nekresi Monastery
Nekresi Monastery is 4km off the Kvareli road
from a signed turning 10km past Gremi. You
have to walk the last 1.5km uphill through
woods to the monastery, but its well worth
the effort as the views across the vineyarddotted Alazani valley and the early Georgian
architecture are marvellous, and you may well
have the whole place to yourself!
One of the very first Georgian churches
was built at Nekresi in the 4th century. In
the 6th century one of the 13 Syrian fathers,
Abibos, who converted many of the highland Georgians, founded a monastery here.
Abibos was killed after he poured water on a
Zoroastrian sacred fire.
The first church you reach at the monastery
is a three-church basilica from the 8th and 9th
centuries. This triple-church plan is unique to
early Georgian churches, the three naves being

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divided by solid walls into what are effectively

three churches. Nekresis tiny first church,
built in the time of King Mirians grandson
Trdati, stands above this in the centre of the
complex. Its an extremely small basilica,
many times reconstructed. Its thought that
its builders had heard about the design of
basilicas but not seen any, resulting in a rather
idiosyncratic construction with open arches
in the walls. Inside, steps lead down to a lower
chapel or vault.
East of this basilica is the main Church of
the Assumption, another triple-church basilica from the 6th to 7th centuries. Some 17thcentury murals adorn the smoke-blackened
interior. Beside this is a ruined 9th-century
bishops palace.

Kvareli
%252 / pop 9000

Kvareli, 35km east of Telavi at the foot of

the Caucasus, is famous for its semisweet
Kindzmarauli wine, and for being the birthplace of the famous Georgian writer, reformer
and patriot, Prince Ilia Chavchavadze (1837
1907). Considered by some to be the father of
modern Georgia, Chavchavadze was made
a saint of the Georgian Orthodox Church
in 1987.
Because of the towns proximity to the
mountains and their often marauding tribes,

K A K H E T I A r o u n d Te l a v i 111

Kvarelis population needed the security of

good fortifications. In the 18th century King
Erekle II had two sets of walls built, one inside
the other. Ilia Chavchavadzes house & museum
(%20511; Rustaveli 3; admission 2 GEL, tour in Georgian
or Russian 5 GEL; h10am-5pm) contain a defensive

tower that was useful on the very day he was

born, as Lezgins were at that moment rampaging through the area. This museum has a lot
of 19th-century photos and a few personal
effects. The house is not very large, but the
marani is truly impressive.
The importance of wine in Kakheti is
demonstrated at the Kindzmarauli winery, 3km
outside town, by a 2km-long tunnel with 15
side passages (each 500m long) all filled with
huge 20,000L metal storage tanks of wine.
Kindzmarauli is Georgias biggest winery and
the tunnel is the second biggest wine storage tunnel in the world. The temperature
underground is a naturally consistent 14C,
ideal for the preservation of the wines here.
Kindzmarauli has no organised visiting programme, but someone will probably show you
the tunnel and give you a couple of glasses
to taste.

Tsinandali
This village, source of a famous white wine
and site of the Chavchavadze family estate (%25071751; Telavi-Gurjaani Rd; admission to gardens free, museum

KAKHETI WINERIES
Wine tourism is something Georgia is striving to promote, especially after Russia, the main export
market for Georgian wine, banned imports of it in 2006 (Georgia lost US$40 million worth of
wine exports that year). Organised winery visits and tastings in Kakheti are still in their infancy,
but they will undoubtedly become part of the scene. Meanwhile, its not hard to organise visits
and tastings through your accommodation or travel agencies. Here are five recommended and
varied Kakheti wineries to consider visiting:
Badagoni (%32-936243; www.badagoni.ge; Zemo Khodasheni) Based at the village of Zemo
Khodasheni, Badagoni is Georgias biggest winery, producing over two million bottles a year
a modern, hi-tech business with Italian investment.
Teliani Valley (%32-506088, 32-313248; www.telianivalley.com; Tbilisis gzatketsili 3) On the Tbilisi
road between Telavi and Tsinandali, Teliani Valley is a recently updated operation with a
modern on-site guest house (%899363600; per person 90-140 GEL) where wine tours are offered.
Shumi (%250-75333; www.shumi.ge; Tsinandali) A smaller, more typical Georgian winery based in
Tsinandali but with 6 sq km of vineyards dotted around the Alazani valley.
Napareulis Marani (%899186414; Napareuli) A family-run operation at Napareuli village, 20km
northeast of Telavi.
Villa Cinandali (%250-72500; Tsinandali) The Nikolaishvili family invites visitors to participate
in making organic wine at their village home.

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

110 K A K H E T I A r o u n d Te l a v i

5 GEL, museum tour in Georgian, German or Russian 6 GEL;

h10am-6pm) lies 10km southeast of Telavi.

Prince Alexander Chavchavadze (17861846)

was the son of Georgias first ambassador to
Russia and godson of Catherine the Great (but
no close relation to Prince Ilia Chavchavadze).
Despite his connections, Alexander was three
times involved in anti-tsarist activities, for
which he was eventually exiled. One of the
first Georgian romantic poets, he was visited
at Tsinandali by Lermontov and the exiled
Decembrist plotters. His daughter Nino married the Russian poet and diplomat Alexander
Griboedov in the family chapel here.
In 1854 Lezgin tribesmen from the Dagestan
mountains ransacked the Chavchavadze
house, kidnapping 23 women and children.
Alexanders son David had to mortgage the
house to raise the ransom. The hostages were
returned, but David was unable to repay the
loan and the house passed to Tsar Alexander
III. The main room of the house is now a museum, with interesting paintings and photos of
people and events associated with the house,
including the Lezgin raid.
The 200,000-sq-metre park is beautifully laid out in an English style, with fine
views, venerable trees and exotic plants such
as ginkgo, bamboo, sequoia and yucca. The
Tsinandali Winery, founded by Alexanders father, Garsevan, is in the northern part. Guides
wait at the gate at the top of the estate drive:
a two-glass wine tasting will cost you 5 GEL;
if combined with a visit to the cellars, which
contain wines dating to 1814, plus the gardens
and museum, the price is 18 GEL.
Some changes can be expected at Tsinandali
as the property has been leased to a Georgiabased company, Silk Road Group, with plans for
several million dollars investment, including
one or more small tourist-quality hotels.

Akhali Shuamta & Dzveli Shuamta

The convent of Akhali (New) Shuamta and the

old monastery of Dzveli (Old) Shuamta stand
among beautiful woodlands a favourite local
picnic spot off the Gombori road west of
Telavi. Dzveli Shuamta, dating back to the 5th
century, had fallen into disuse when Akhali
Shuamta was founded in the 16th century by
the Kakhetian Queen Tinatin. The churches
at the two sites are fine works of Georgian
ecclesiastical architecture.

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A Monastery 2km sign, 11km from Telavi,

points the way to Akhali Shuamta, now a convent again after serving as an orphanage in
Soviet times. Wait at the inner gate for one
of the nuns to greet you and show you the
church (some of them speak English). The
brick church has a cruciform design with
an unusually high cupola and large crosses
inscribed on its extremities. The fine 16thcentury frescoes inside portray Queen Tinatin,
her husband, King Levan II, and their son
Alexander, as well as biblical scenes. Tinatin
later became a nun and is buried here. The
poet Alexander Chavchavadze (left) is also
buried here.
Three kilometres further up the road are the
three stone churches of Dzveli Shuamta. Nearest
to the road is a three-naved 5th- to 6thcentury basilica, in a style typical of the earliest period of Georgian Christianity. The next
is a 7th-century tetraconch church with a plan
derived from the Jvari Church near Mtskheta.
Third is another tetraconch church from the
same period, but lacking the corner rooms of
the otherwise similar middle church.
No public transport comes to Shuamta; a
taxi round trip from Telavi is 5 GEL.

SIGHNAGHI
%255 / pop 2000

Sighnaghi is the most attractive town in

Kakheti and has a distinctly Italianate feel to
it. Set on a hill 60km southeast of Telavi, the
town was developed (over earlier ruins) in the
18th century by King Erekle II, in part as a refuge for the areas populace against Lezgin and
Persian attacks. The name Sighnaghi comes
from the Turkish word for shelter, siinak.
Each of the six entrances in Erekles 23 tower
walls was named after a local village. Erekle
invited Armenian artisans and tradespeople
to live here, and by the 19th century Sighnaghi
was one of Georgias leading trading centres.
Three-quarters of its houses still date from the
17th, 18th and 19th centuries and a large part
of its 4km defensive wall still stands.
Today Sighnaghi is being ambitiously developed into a tourism hub for Kakheti, with
an emphasis on wine. It is already the scene of
a big wine festival one weekend each October.
In 2007 a huge government-sponsored renovation programme turned the town centre
into one great building site, making it hard
to determine what the place would eventually
look like. But the renovation will maintain

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the towns original style, with its handsome

galleried houses built around a series of appealing small squares. In the pipeline are new
family-style cellar restaurants, wine-tasting
halls, new hotels and other accommodation,
a government-run tourist information office,
and new museums. All being well it will retain
its charm with the addition of new facilities.
Set among wooded hills dotted with cypresses, the town has wonderful views of the
Alazani valley and the Caucasus beyond.
The main section of the 18th-century walls
runs along the hilltop on the northeast side
of town, where you can enter the tiny Stepan
Tsminda (St Stephens) Church inside one of the
towers on Chavchavadze. Lower down, on the
northeast side of town, is the handsome 19thcentury Tsminda Giorgi (St Georges) Church.

Sleeping & Eating

Sighnaghi is certain to develop many more
accommodation and eating options (the
tourist offices here and in Telavi will have
information). Hotel Pirosmani (Davit Aghmashenebeli
6), a new hotel in the excellent small Rcheuli
chain (see p109) opened shortly before we
went to press. It has a Georgian restaurant
and a French caf.
David Zandarashvilis (%31029, 899750510; david
zandarashvili@yahoo.com; Tsminda Giorgi 11; per person
half board 25 GEL) Down near Tsminda Giorgi

Church, this very hospitable and helpful family provides good rooms and excellent food,
and is a favourite with travellers.
Nana Kokiashvilis (%31829, 899795093; kkshvl@
yahoo.com; Saradzhishvili 2; per person 25 GEL, half board
35 GEL) Nana has four nice big rooms and

wide balconies in her fine old house on one

of the central squares, and provides good,
home-cooked, local food. Her daughter Nino
(%893229178) speaks English and her husband can often drive guests to local attractions
and even as far as Davit Gareja (right).
Other homestays to try, both up near the
old town walls, include Sergos (%899393808;
Chavchavadze 16) and the Bejashvili family (%31736;
Chavchavadze 10).
Pancho Villa (%899192356; Tamar Mepi; dishes 3-10
GEL; h2pm-10pm Tue-Sun) You cant miss the green
and orange paintwork of what is undoubtedly
the only Mexican restaurant in Kakheti. Run
by Shalva Mindorashvili, who took a liking to
burritos and salsa while living in the USA, it
serves up simple, tasty and filling versions of
Mexican dishes, plus Georgian wine!

K A K H E T I A r o u n d S i g h n a g h i 113

Getting There & Away

Marshrutkas to Sighnaghi (6 GEL, 2 hours)
leave every couple of hours from about 7am
to 5pm from outside Samgori metro station
in Tbilisi, with a similar schedule returning
(the first and last from Sighnaghi are at 7am
and 6pm). Theres a single daily departure
from Sighnaghi to Telavi (4 GEL, 1 hours)
at 9.15am. A taxi to or from Telavi should
be 30 GEL.

AROUND SIGHNAGHI

Bodbe Convent
Bodbe Convent is 2.5km south of Sighnaghi, an
enjoyable walk on country roads, or you could
take a cab for 5 GEL or 6 GEL round trip.
The convent, set among tall cypresses, is
dedicated to St Nino (see p73), who is buried
here. The little church was originally built,
over her grave, by King Mirian in the 4th
century. It was converted into a triple-church
basilica in the 8th or 9th century and has been
renovated several times since. Ninos fairly
simple tomb, beneath a recently installed
marble slab, is in a small chapel in its southeast corner. The murals were painted in
1823 by Bishop John Maqashvili. A convent,
founded here in the late 19th century, then
turned into a hospital in Soviet times, has
functioned again since 1991. Through an
opening just northeast of the church, and then
down a steep path of 800m, you can reach a
small chapel built over St Ninos Spring, which
burst forth after she prayed on this spot, where
today locals queue up to drink and splash
themselves with the holy water.

DAVIT GAREJA
On the border with Azerbaijan, Davit (or
David) Gareja is perhaps the most remarkable of all Georgias ancient sites, and the
most interesting easy day trip from Tbilisi.
Comprising about 15 old monasteries spread
over a large, remote area, its uniqueness is
heightened by a lunar, semidesert landscape
which turns green and blooms with flowers in
early summer. Monstrously neglected during
the Soviet era, Davit Gareja has since seen
some restoration and is now again inhabited
by monks. Two of the key monasteries, and
the most visited, are Lavra (the only inhabited one today), and, on the hill above it,
Udabno, which has beautiful frescoes (not to
be confused with the village Udabno several
kilometres north).

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

112 K A K H E T I S i g h n a g h i

Lavra, the first monastery here, was founded

by Davit Gareja, one of the 13 ascetic Syrian
fathers who returned from the Middle East
to spread Christianity in Georgia in the 6th
century. The religious complex grew until
there were monasteries spread over a wide
area. Here manuscripts were translated and
copied, and a celebrated Georgian school of
fresco painting developed. The monasteries
were destroyed by the Mongols in 1265, revived in the early 14th century by Giorgi V the
Brilliant, sacked by Timur and then suffered
their worst moment of all on Easter night 1615
when Persian Shah Abbas soldiers killed 6000
monks and destroyed most of their artistic
treasures. In 1675 King Archil initiated some
restoration and gave stipends to the monks.
The monasteries never regained their former
importance but remained working until the
end of the 19th century.
During the Soviet era the area was used
for military exercises, and some of the first
demonstrations of the perestroika period in
Tbilisi were protests against this vandalism.
Ironically, the Georgian army then used the
area for training in the mid-1990s. These
manoeuvres were stopped when protesters
camped in the firing range.
Entrance to both Lavra and Udabno is free,
but you may want to leave a donation at Lavra.
It takes two to three hours to explore both
places at a leisurely pace.
The Lavra monastery is on three levels, with
buildings dating from many different periods.
The watchtower and the outer walls are from
the 18th century. You enter by a gateway on
the middle level which is decorated with reliefs illustrating stories of the monks harmony
with the natural world. From the gateway you
go down past the 17th-century Church of St
Nicholas to the lower level, where the caves
of Davit and his companions are. Davit and
his Kakhetian disciples Lukiane and Dodo are
buried in the 6th-century cave Peristsvaleba
(Church of the Transfiguration) on this lower
level. Monks are now living in the monastery
again, but you cant enter their quarters (caves
in the rock above those of Davit and his companions), and you should refrain from making
too much noise. They will also be offended by
inappropriate clothing.
To get to Udabno, take the uphill path beside
the church shop outside Lavra. Watch out for
poisonous vipers on this route, including in
the caves and especially from April to June.

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When you come level with a watchtower overlooking Lavra, take the path leading straight
up the hill. In 10 to 15 minutes you will reach
a metal railing. Follow this to the left and up
to the top of the ridge, then along the far side
of the ridge (where the railing deteriorates to a
series of posts). The plains and low hills below
you now are in Azerbaijan, and the caves
alongside and above the path are the Udabno
monastery. Some were churches or chapels or
rooms, and their inner walls still bear frescoes
painted by the renowned fresco school that
flourished here between the 10th and 13th
centuries. The monasterys refectory, where
the monks had to kneel to eat at low stone tables, is decorated with beautiful light-coloured
frescoes, the principal one being an 11thcentury depiction of the Last Supper. Paintings
on the north wall of what was the main church
show Davit Gareja and Lukiane surrounded
by deer, a reference to the story that deer gave
them milk when they were wandering without
sustenance in this remote wilderness. Below
them are figures of Kakhetian princes.
Finally the path climbs up to a stone chapel
on the hilltop, then down past a cave known
as Davits Tears (because of the spring inside) and the top of Lavra monastery, to the
watchtower you passed earlier.

Sleeping
Anyone with a particular interest in staying overnight at Davit Gareja can sleep at
the Seismology Centre (%899536373; per person full
board US$35-40) run by David Gotsadze, about
600m back from Lavra monastery along the
approach road. There are six clean if basic
guest rooms, sharing a bathroom and notvery-powerful solar electricity. You should
call ahead.

Getting There & Away

Theres no public transport to the remote site,
but its possible to do a day trip from Tbilisi
using a marshrutka from Didube to Gardabani
(2.50 GEL, one hour, hourly from 9am to
5pm), and then hiring a taxi in Gardabani.
Most drivers will do the round trip for around
60 GEL including waiting time.
Many Tbilisi tour agencies (p52) run
day trips to Davit Gareja, with the benefit
of lunch, comfortable transfers by coach or
car, and guides (especially useful at Udabno,
where some of the caves are a little tricky to
find). Rates are typically around 150 GEL

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per person for two people or 110 GEL per

person for four people.

LAGODEKHI NATURE RESERVE

This remote, 242-sq-km reserve runs up

to heights of over 3000m in the Caucasus,
above the small town of Lagodekhi in
Kakhetis far eastern corner. Its a destination that will appeal to lovers of nature and
off-the-beaten-track travel. Its most practicable for those heading into Azerbaijan.
The reserve features deep river valleys,
glacial lakes and some of Georgias bestpreserved forests, with wildlife including
Caucasian turs, wolves, brown bears and
lynx. You can make day hikes to waterfalls
or to the 11th-century Machistsikhe castle,
and theres a three-day, 50km route through
the highest parts of the park near the border
of Dagestan (Russia).
Accommodation and food are available
at the administration building (% 254-22715,
899385283; vpavliashvili@yahoo.com; Vashlovani 197,
Lagodekhi) and a couple of local guesthouses.

Some information in English is on the

Department of Protected Areas website (www.dpa
.gov.ge), under Services.
Marshrutkas and slow buses to Lagodekhi
(5 GEL, up to three hours) leave the new
bus station in Telavi at 7.30am, 8.30am
and 1.30pm, and from the old bus station
at 3pm. If requested, these may be able to
take you on to the Azerbaijan border 4km
beyond Lagodekhi. Some buses or marshrutkas run from Lagodekhi across the border
to Balakn, Zaqatala or ki. Alternatively,
take a taxi from Lagodekhi to the border
and then a shared taxi to Balakn (AZN1),
from which there are marshrutkas, buses
and a train to Zaqatala, ki and Baku
(see p280).

SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI
-
The unpronounceably named southern flank
of Georgia is a highly scenic region whose
cultural and natural attractions have unfortunately not prevented it from becoming one
of the countrys most economically backward
areas. Its biggest attractions are the spectacular 12th-century cave city of Vardzia and

S A M T S K H E -J AVA K H E T I B o r j o m i 115

the beautiful Borjomi-Kharagauli National

Park. Also here are the popular spa resort
of Borjomi and the ski resort of Bakuriani.
Landscapes are very varied, from the alpine
forests and meadows around Borjomi and
Bakuriani to the bare volcanic canyons of
the Vardzia area.
Historically known as Meskheti, the region
has played an important part in Georgian
history. It was part of Tao-Klarjeti, the collection of princedoms from which the Bagrationi
dynasty expanded its power in the 9th and
10th centuries, leading to the unification of
most of Georgia under their rule in 1008.
A cradle of Georgian culture, Tao-Klarjeti
extended well into whats now northeast
Turkey, where many interesting Georgian
churches and monasteries may still be seen.
Tao-Klarjeti fell under Ottoman rule from the
1550s to the 1870s. It was briefly part of independent Georgia after the Russian Revolution,
but most of it was reoccupied by Turkey when
the Red Army attacked Georgia in 1921.
Javakheti is the more elevated southeastern half of Samtskhe-Javakheti. Bordering
Armenia, it has a majority Armenian
population.

BORJOMI

%367 (international), %267 domestic /

pop 14,000

Famous throughout the former Soviet Union

for its salty-sour, love-it-or-hate-it carbonated
mineral water, Borjomi is an attractive resort
town clinging to the hills either side of the
Mtkvari River, 850m above sea level. The town
dates from 1829 when some soldiers discovered the health-giving mineral spring here.
A Russian governor of the Caucasus, Count
Vorontsov, developed Borjomi as a resort, one
that became fashionable with the aristocracy
after Duke Mikhail Romanov (brother of Tsar
Alexander II) took a liking to it. In the 1890s
Duke Mikhail built a summer residence, the
Likani Palace, 2km west of the modern centre
off the Akhaltsikhe road. Its now a Georgian
presidential residence.
During the Soviet era Borjomi attracted
enormous numbers of visitors from all over
the USSR. After the Soviet collapse, Borjomis
flow of visitors slowed to a trickle, but things
are now looking up, with a steady number of
new hotels and restaurants opening. Borjomi
is a good jumping-off point for Vardzia, and
the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, right

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

114 K A K H E T I D a v i t G a re j a

lonelyplanet.com

SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI

0
0

20 km
12 miles

Kutaisi

Tskhinvali

Terjola

Vartsikhe

Dimi

Nikozi

M1

Zestaponi

To
Gori (10km);
Agara Tbilisi (105km)

Baghdati

Kharagauli

Tskaltashua

Surami

Marelisi

Sairme

Mt Sametskhvareo
(2642m)

MESKHETI

RANGE

Mt Lomis Mta
(2187m)

Borjomi Kharagauli
National Park

Zekari Pass
(2182m)

vari

Rive

Mtk

M8

Borjomi
Likani

Tsaghveri

Gujareti

Qvabiskhevi

Abastumani

To Batumi
(130km)

Vale

Potskhovi River
Ghreli

Tsalka
Reservoir

Lake
Tabatskhuri

Rustavi

Sapara
Monastery

River

Tabatskhuri

Aspindza

Mtkvari

Posof

Ktsia

Tskhratskaros
Pass
(2454m)

Akhaltsikhe

i River

Mt Arjevani
(2750m)

Bakuriani

Agara

Kvabli
an

Zarzma

Dviri

Atskuri

Adigeni

Kareli

Gomi

Khashuri

Nardevani

To
Tbilisi
(110km)

Tambovka

er

Riv

TURKEY

Akhalkalaki

Tsunda
Tmogvi
Vanis Qvabebi

Poka

an

Lake
Saghamo

River

RAN

Ninotsminda

GE

Gorelovka

ARMENIA
Bavra

on its doorstep, offers some of the best hiking

in Georgia outside the greater Caucasus.

Orientation & Information

The main road through town and also the
main commercial street, Rustaveli, runs
along the northern bank of the Mtkvari River.
Arriving from Tbilisi in the northeast, youll
notice the tourist office in a glass pavilion
between Rustaveli and the river. Beside this,
a white suspension bridge crosses the river to
the southern half of town, where the Borjomi
Mineral Water Park is. The sparklingly renovated Stalin-era Borjomi Park train station
is on the south bank, just east of this bridge.
Rustaveli changes its name to Meskheti 300m
west of the bridge, continuing 300m more to

Sights
Borjomis Mineral Water Park (9 Aprili; summer admission 0.50 GEL, other times free) dates from 1850
and is a lovely place to walk. This was where
the original water spring was discovered, and
named Yekaterinsky Spring after the governors daughter, who was cured here. To reach
the park cross the little Borjomula River just
east of Borjomi Park station, turn right and
go 600m. The park occupies the narrow,
wooded Borjomula valley, and its facilities
cafs, kids attractions and a cinema have
recently been attractively renovated. Mineral
water flows from taps in a pavilion straight in
front of the entrance, and a modern cable car
(down/up 1/2 GEL) carries you above the park
to a hilltop Ferris wheel. If you walk about
3km upstream through the park, youll find a
small, natural, spring-fed swimming pool.
The Borjomi Museum of Local Lore (Tsminda Nino
5; admission 3 GEL, tour 5 GEL; h10am-5pm Tue-Sun) is
housed in the former Romanov offices, in a
street off the western end of Rustaveli. The
collection includes china, glass and other articles from the Romanov palace, photos and
documentation about the Borjomi mineral
waters, some exhibits of local flora and fauna,
and a papier-mch map of Borjomi made
in 1917.

Sleeping

ETI

Sulda

M11 Para
v

Lake
Paravani

AKH

Tmogvi Castle
Vardzia

Mt Didi Abuli
(3300m)

Khertvisi
Fortress

JAV

Gelsunda
Nakalakevi

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the bus station and then a further 1km to the

national park visitors centre. There are places
to stay on both sides of the river. A few ATMs
are located along Rustaveli.
Borjomi District Tourism Department (www
.borjomitourism.ge) This website has maps and
descriptions of walking and horse-riding routes in the
Borjomi and Bakuriani areas.
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park (www.national
park.ge) The website has information on the main
attractions of Samtskhe-Javakheti.
Internet Caf (Rustaveli 26; per hr 2 GEL;
h10am-11pm) Next to the tourist office.
Tourist Information Office (%21397; Rustaveli;
h10am-9pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat & Sun Jul-Sep)
Extremely helpful and informative but unfortunately only
open for the summer season at research time.

Borjomi accommodation used to consist

mainly of sanatoria of varying degrees of
comfort, but there are now some comfortable
hotels as well as copious homestays.
Marina Zulmatashvilis Homestay (% 22323,
898184550; Shroma 2; per person incl breakfast 20 GEL) One
of the best homestays, with a welcoming family in a cosy house. Guests can use cooking
facilities here. Son Giga and daughter Maia,
usually here in the summer, speak perfect
English. From the south side of the suspension bridge, go up the hill on Kostava, then
where Kostava bends left downhill, fork right
along an unpaved street. Go right at the end
of this, then take the first left and the house is
at the end on the left. There are several other
similarly priced homestays in the same street
(at numbers 3, 4, 8 and 9, for example).
Mzia Gogoladzes Homestay (%21552, 895352580;
Rustaveli 21; per person 20 GEL) This is another comfortable and friendly place, though less central: its just before the Bakuriani turning as
you head east out of Borjomi, 2km from the
tourist office. Breakfast available.

S A M T S K H E -J AVA K H E T I B o r j o m i 117

Hotel Victoria (%22631; Kostava 31; r 40 GEL, ste

for 3 100 GEL) Has two quite adequate, pinepanelled rooms with shared bath upstairs,
and two rather dark but more spacious deluxe affairs downstairs with kitchen and private bathroom. Its 200m up the hill from
the south side of the suspension bridge.
Saodzakho Hotel (%20780; Kostava 2; r 60 GEL)
A friendly, family-run, small hotel between
Borjomi Park station and the suspension
bridge. The rooms are cosy and carpeted,
with hot showers, and some have balconies.
No food, though.
oHotel Borjomi (%22212; Tsminda Nino 3;
incl breakfast s 60-80 GEL, d 70-100 GEL; a) A characterful and well-managed place off Rustaveli,
next to the museum, this small hotel occupies an attractive tsarist-era mansion and
has the most comfortable feel of any hotel in
town. The rooms are carpeted and spacious,
with private bathrooms.
Borjomis Kheoba (%23072; info@borjomiskheoba
.com; Rustaveli 107A; d full board US$85-165; s) Sharing
its building with a sanatorium (run separately), this good modern hotel has comfy
rooms with top-end touches like toiletries
and hair-dryer; some of the more expensive
ones are two-level. The pool and the gym
are open to hotel guests only. Theres also
one single room at US$53 with full board.

Eating
You can get khachapuri, shashlyk, hot dogs
and coffee at the cafs in the Mineral Water
Park. In town the main cluster of cafs and
restaurants is on Robakidze, just south of
the suspension bridge.
Bistro Aguna (Robakidze 2; mains 4-8 GEL; h9am9pm) A straightforward caf, with small
booths for private dining, and tasty, if unimaginative, national standards.
Taverna Nia (Robakidze 1A; mains 4-9 GEL) In a
two-storey 19th-century house with attractive wooden balconies, the Nia serves very
good Georgian cuisine. Its popular with locals and packed on holidays, when it can be
very loud a great Georgian experience.
Shemoikhede Genatsvale (%23343; Borjomi Park
Station; 2-course meal incl drinks 15-30 GEL; h9am-11pm)

A big, bright, new place in the train station,

serving excellent Georgian food. Khinkali are
a speciality but theres lots more. This is a
branch of the very good Tbilisi restaurant of
the same name.

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

116 S A M T S K H E -J AVA K H E T I B o r j o m i

Getting There & Away

Marshrutkas to Borjomi (7 GEL, 2 hours)
leave Tbilisis Didube bus station about
hourly from 8am to 7pm, with a similar
return schedule from Borjomis bus station
(%22534; Meskheti 8). Other marshrutkas from
Borjomi bus station go to Akhaltsikhe (3 GEL,
1 hours, about hourly), Gori (4 GEL, 1
hours, at 7.30am, 10am and 1pm), Kutaisi (7
GEL, three hours, 11.30am and 2.15pm) and
Batumi (14 GEL, six hours, 9am). Frequent
buses and marshrutkas run between Borjomi
and Khashuri (1.50 GEL, 30 minutes), on the
main TbilisiKutaisi road, 32km northwest
of Borjomi, until early evening.
For those with plenty of time, elektrichky
from Tbilisis Borjomi station leave at 7.15am
and 4.55pm, taking 4 hours to Borjomi Park
station. Trains back to Tbilisi leave at 7am
and 4.20pm.
A taxi from Borjomi to Tbilisi costs
around 80 GEL, while one to Akhaltsikhe
costs 30 GEL.

BORJOMI-KHARAGAULI NATIONAL
PARK -

The ranges of the Lesser Caucasus in southern

Georgia are less well known and less high
than the greater Caucasus along the countrys
northern border, but they still contain some
very beautiful and wild country.
The perfect chance to get out into this
landscape is provided by the large BorjomiKharagauli National Park, open from April
to October, which spreads over more than
850 sq km of forested hills and alpine meadows up to 2642m high, north and west of
Borjomi. You might even see one of the parks
60 brown bears.
Nine marked trails of various lengths,
some suitable for horses as well as hikers,
crisscross different parts of the park, with
overnight accommodation available on the
longer routes. Trail 7 is a 3km introductory
stroll starting from the park office and visitors
centre (%267-22117, 899233449; www.nationalpark.ge;
Meskheti 23, Borjomi; h9am-6pm Mon-Fri, to 4pm Sat &
Sun Apr-Oct), 1km west of central Borjomi. Trail

1 (Likani to Marelisi) is a 40km, three-day

route crossing the park from south to north
via Mt Lomis Mta (2187m). A popular day
route of five or six hours follows Trail 1
up the Likani River valley then turns down
Trail 6 to come out on the Akhaltsikhe road

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S A M T S K H E -J AVA K H E T I B a k u r i a n i 119

at Qvabiskhevi. You can make this a twoday hike by continuing up Trail 1 to the
Lomis Mta tourist shelter, and then returning down Trails 1 and 6. The longest and
hardest route is Trail 2 (Atskuri to Marelisi),
a northsouth route of 50km, taking three
or four days.
To visit the park, you need a ticket (free)
from the visitors centre, where you can also
obtain maps and information, pay for any
nights in the park, and arrange for guides
or horses. They also have tents (7 GEL per
night), sleeping bags (5 GEL per night),
backpacks (5 GEL per night) and camping
mats (3 GEL per night) for rent.
Though the trails are marked and youre
free to hike on your own, the management
recommends taking a park guide (33 GEL
per day) because some of the paint markers
are damaged or missing, and minor trails
can be confusing.
Most guides speak at least some English.
You can rent horses for 40 GEL per day for
rides from Atskuri or Marelisi.

BAKURIANI

US$40) Another friendly smaller place, with sat-

Sleeping
Four basic wooden tourist shelters (per person 10
GEL) provide accommodation inside the park.
They have spring water but you need to
carry a sleeping bag, food and cooking gear.
You can also sleep at the ranger shelter near
the parks highest point, Mt Sametskhvareo,
but theres no water there. There are campsites (per person 5 GEL) at the park entrances at
Qvabiskhevi, Atskuri and Marelisi.
The park operates small guest houses at
the visitors centre (r 60 GEL), where the rooms
have private bathrooms but theres no food
available, and Marelisi (per person 20 GEL, breakfast/
lunch/dinner 5/6/10 GEL), just outside the parks
northern boundary, with four double rooms
sharing bathrooms.

Getting There & Away

The visitors centre is a short walk or taxi
ride from Borjomi. Marshrutkas running
between Borjomi and Akhaltsikhe will drop
you off or pick you up at the parks Likani,
Qvabiskhevi or Atskuri entry points.
Marelisi is on the TbilisiKutaisi railway,
with trains to Tbilisi (three hours) leaving
at 4.35am, 5am and 3.15pm. Westbound
trains leave Marelisi for Kutaisi and Zugdidi
at noon, for Zugdidi at 12.25am and for
Batumi at 1.44am.

%367 (international), %267 (domestic) /

pop 2500

Thirty kilometres up a winding road through

pine-clad hills southeast of Borjomi, Bakuriani
is the cheaper, and more locally popular, of
Georgias two main ski resorts (the other being
Gudauri in the Caucasus, p100). Though new
hotels big and small are going up all the time,
Bakuriani still has the atmosphere of a mountain village. Developed in Soviet times as a
training centre for Olympic skiers, its facilities
declined after the Soviet collapse but are now
being improved again.
The Bakuriani area is also good for picturesque walks in summer. The climate
here is subalpine, with snow usually falling
from December to the end of March, but
it also has long, warm summers and high
ultraviolet radiation.
Approaching the centre of town from
Borjomi, youll turn right (south) up the main
street, Tavisupleba. After 500m Tskhakia runs
off to the right to the bus station, 120m away,
and Tavisupleba becomes Aghmashenebeli.
Theres a Tourist Information Centre (%40037;
bakuriani.cenn.ge; Aghmashenebeli 1; h10am-6pm Mon-Fri)

at this corner, where you can find out about

good summer walking routes.
The ski season runs from late December to
some time in March. The main runs are Kokhta
I, 1.5km long with a chairlift (per ride 2 GEL),
on the eastern edge of town, and Didveli, 1.8km
with a cable car (3 GEL), to the south. Skiing
and snowboarding equipment is available for
rent at around 25 GEL a day near the foot of
the lifts. You can ice-skate and snowmobile
here too.

Sleeping & Eating

Many hotels and guesthouses are scattered
around the centre, up Aghmashenebeli towards the Didveli ski run, and along a ring
road north and east of the centre which leads
to Kokhta-I. In summer most places drop
their rates by 10 GEL to 20 GEL.
Sport Hotel (%899537716; Mtis 28; per person 25
GEL, full board 50 GEL) This friendly small hotel is
just 200m from the bus station. The bright,
pine-fitted rooms have bathrooms and TVs
and theres a nice big upstairs sitting area. The
hotel can provide a walking or horse-riding
guide for 20 GEL per day.
Hotel Apollon (%40288, 899571108; www.welcome
.ge/hotel_apollon; Aghmashenebeli 21; per person full board

isfying meals in a cosy dining room, and very

comfy, pine-floored rooms with balconies and
comfortable wooden beds 800m up the hill
from the centre.
Hotel Villa Park (%40405, 877504747; Rustaveli 25;
s/d/tr/q full board from US$90/120/150/200; s) This is
one of the most luxurious hotels in the centre,
with a sizable indoor pool, and buffet meals
served in the large restaurant. Rooms are carpeted and attractively furnished. The hotel is
up a side street 250m from the bus station.
Restaurants are few, as most visitors eat at
their accommodation. For a change try Natali
Restaurant (Tavisupleba; mains 4-10 GEL).

Getting There & Away

Marshrutkas leave Borjomi bus station for
Bakuriani (2.50 GEL, one hour) at least
four times daily (7am, 9am, 10.30am and
2.30pm). There are also several marshrutkas
and buses daily from Tbilisi Didube (p67;
bus/marshrutka 7/10 GEL, three hours).
Returning to Tbilisi there are eight departures
between 8am and 5pm. A taxi from Borjomi
to Bakuriani or vice versa costs 20 GEL to
25 GEL.
Slow but scenic trains run to Bakuriani (2
GEL, two hours) from Borjomis Chornaya
Rechka station (by the Mtkvari River, 2km east
of the centre) at 6.50am and 1pm, returning
from Bakuriani at 9.30am and 3.40pm.

AKHALTSIKHE

%365 (international), %265 (domestic) /

pop 20,000

The capital and biggest town of SamtskheJavakheti, Akhaltsikhe means New Castle
in Georgian. In fact, far from being new, the
castle that dominates the town dates from the
12th century. The local power in Akhaltsikhe
from the 13th to 17th centuries was the Jakeli
family, but from 1688 until 1828 it was the
centre of a pashalik (an Ottoman administrative area governed by a pasha). Little of
Akhaltsikhes Soviet-era industry remains,
and unemployment is high, but its a pleasant
enough place, mostly used by travellers as a
staging post for the cave city at Vardzia and
the beautiful Sapara Monastery.
The bus station is on a square on the
north side of the Potskhovi River. Cross
the bridge over the river and bear right
at two forks and youll be on the main
street, Kostava.

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

118 S A M T S K H E -J AVA K H E T I B o r j o m i - K h a r a g a u l i N a t i o n a l Pa r k

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

A DRIVING FORCE
Krisha Petrosian is Armenian-Georgian, or a Georgian-Armenian if you prefer. Born of Armenian
parents, he has always lived in Akhaltsikhe, a southwestern Georgian town with a sizable Armenian
population. Most of his life, Georgia and Armenia were part of the same country, the USSR, and
Krisha, while not one to harbour regrets, is one of the many who think life was better back then.
Its not that we were rich, but everyone had enough, he avers.
You might meet Krisha, a courteous and friendly man in his mid-60s, outside Akhaltsikhes bus
station, where he regularly waits for customers in his 1990 Soviet-built Volga taxi. Though past
retirement age, he continues working to make ends meet. Georgias old-age pension, 39 GEL a
month, is far from enough for Krisha and his wife to live on. He is still happy driving, something
he has done for a living all his life.
I trained as a driver during my military service in the Soviet army. Then I drove buses for
years, to and from Yerevan. Later I became a taxi driver.
After Georgian independence he managed to buy his cab from the government-run taxi organisation he had worked for, and set up as an independent driver. Hes happy with his Volga, which
still purrs along well and gives a smooth, comfortable ride. Its a good worker, he smiles.
The breakup of the Soviet Union turned Krisha, overnight, into an international kind of guy.
He speaks Georgian, Armenian, Russian and Turkish, and two of his three children live in Russia.
His son is an officer in the Russian army and his elder daughter is married to a Russian general.
Money they send home is a big help in keeping their parents and the second daughter, a young
widow, afloat. The second daughter is a qualified pharmacist but is unable to find work.
And the Armenians and Georgians here get along OK with each other? A lot of Armenians
left Georgia after independence, mainly to Armenia or Russia, but everything is fine now. You
sense Krisha is the kind of guy wholl always make the best of things, whatever potholes the
road presents.

Rabati
A wander around Akhaltsikhes rabati (old
town), with its multicultural architecture, is
well worthwhile. This district is on a hill on
the north side of the Potskhovi, just west of
the bridge. Rare examples of darbazebi (traditional Georgian houses) cluster around the
castle, which was built in the 12th century and
houses a mosque from 1752 and the ruins of
a medrese (Islamic school). The castle also
houses the fine Ivane Javakhishvili SamtskheJavakheti History Museum (%21622; admission 3
GEL; Kharischirashvili 1; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun), whose
interesting exhibits include a 16th-century
manuscript of Rustavelis The Knight in the
Tiger Skin and a large collection of Caucasian
carpets. The rabati also has a synagogue, an
Armenian church and a Catholic church.

Sleeping & Eating

Hotel Meskheti (%20420; Kostava 10; r 25-30 GEL) This
superficially renovated ex-Intourist hotel is
cheap, central and gloomy. The rooms are
survivable, with hot showers.
White House (%20410, 899513595; Aspindza 26; s/d
incl breakfast 40/50 GEL, ste 60 GEL) Down a side street
off Rustaveli (the Vardzia road), 1km east

of the town centre, the White House seems

mainly aimed at NGO staff. The rooms are
fairly bare but comfy, with good bathrooms
and European-channel TVs. The big and
rather ornate restaurant (mains 3 to 6 GEL),
with gold-ribboned chairs, is probably the
best in town.
Hotel Prestizhi (%893937125; Rustaveli 76; s/d
40/50 GEL, incl breakfast 50/60 GEL) A short distance
closer to the centre than the White House,
the Prestizhi has a very attentive manager
and clean, sizable rooms with large paintings
in reasonable taste.
There are a few cafs serving khachapuri,
snacks and meals near the Hotel Meskheti on
Kostava, the main street.

Getting There & Away

The bus station (Tamarashvili) is busy with
marshrutka and bus departures every hour
or half-hour, 7am to 7pm, to Borjomi (3 GEL,
1 hours) and Tbilisi (10 GEL, four hours),
as well as to Batumi via Khashuri (18 GEL,
six hours, at 8.30 and 11.30am), Batumi via
Khulo (15 GEL, six hours, 10am, about May to
September only), Kutaisi (10 GEL, 4 hours,
2.20pm and 3pm), Vardzia (3.50 GEL, two

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hours, 10.30am, 12.20pm, 4pm and 5.30pm),

and to Gyumri (15 GEL, four hours, 7am)
and Yerevan (25 GEL, seven hours, 7.10am)
in Armenia. A taxi to the Turkish border,
20km southwest of Akhaltsikhe, costs 15 GEL
to 20 GEL; taxis and minibuses run between
the border and the first Turkish town, Posof
(12km from the border). Its a four-hour
minibus ride on from Posof to Kars.

VARDZIA
The drive into the wilderness from Akhaltsikhe
towards Vardzia is as dramatic as any in
Georgia outside the greater Caucasus. The
road follows the course of the upper Mtkvari,
passing through narrow canyons and then
veering south at Aspindza along a particularly beautiful valley cutting like a green ribbon between arid, rocky hillsides. Thirty-two
kilometres from Akhaltsikhe is the village of
Rustavi, from where Georgias national bard
Rustaveli hails. After the unremarkable town
of Aspindza, you reach the impressive 10th- to
14th-century Khertvisi Fortress, where the road
to Akhalkalaki and Turkey diverges from the
Varzia road. Inside the impressive walls is a
square keep with rounded corners. According
to legend, Queen Tamar held a competition to
see who could build the best tower. A master
stonemason and an apprentice were the contestants. The apprentice outdid his master,
who jumped like a bird from the tower and
died impaled on the knife in his belt. From
the eastern wall two tunnels lead down to the
river: one served the castles inhabitants for
water, the other for communication.
Nine kilometres from Khertvisi you come
to a stone enclosure beside the road, which is
an old slave market. Opposite is the turning to

S A M T S K H E -J AVA K H E T I Va r d z i a 121

the village of Nakalakevi, whose name means

a city used to be here. The city in question
was Tsunda, which until the 9th century was
the capital of Javakheti. Tsundas remains
are just east of the north end of the next village, Tmogvi, 1km further along the road:
its worth stopping to see Tsundas beautifully ornamented 12th-century Church of St
John the Baptist, with, curiously enough, a
medieval stone lavatory next to it.
Two kilometres further along the road, but
atop a high rocky hill on the other side of the
river (which flows far below in the gorge),
is the near-impregnable Tmogvi Castle, which
was already an important fortification by the
10th century. About 1.5km past this, up on
the left of the road, are the remains of Vanis
Qvabebi (Vani Caves), a cave monastery that
predated Vardzia by four centuries, with a
maze of tunnels inside the rock.
The cave city of Vardzia (admission US$3; h9am5pm), 16km beyond Khertvisi, is a cultural
symbol with a special place in the hearts of
Georgians. In the 12th century Giorgi III
built a fortification at the site. His daughter,
Queen Tamar, established a monastery here,
which grew into a virtual holy city housing
perhaps 2000 monks, renowned as a spiritual
bastion of Georgia and of Christendoms eastern frontier. The story goes that it was Tamar
who, as a child, unwittingly gave the place its
name: taken hunting by her father, she strayed
from her companions and when called to,
answered from the caves Ak var dzia (Here
I am, uncle).
The remarkable feature of Vardzia as it developed in Tamars reign was that the inhabitants lived in dwellings carved out of the rock
and ranging over 13 floors, with the Church

WALKS IN THE UPPER MTKVARI VALLEY

A network of fascinating walking trails has been opened up between Khertvisi and Vardzia, giving access to places like Tmogvi Castle, Vanis Qvabebi and the convent of Zeda (Upper) Vardzia
with its 11th-century stone church. Youll notice information boards showing these routes and
describing their features in English and Georgian as you travel along the valley. Five routes of up
to 8km are marked with yellow-and-black paint stripes and arrows in a project coordinated by
the Swiss-based Foundation for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions. Guesthouses with
hot-water bathrooms at Gelsunda, Tmogvi and Vardzia enable you to stay overnight and enjoy
exploring this fascinating area: prices including meals range from US$20 to US$30 per person.
There are plans for a tourist information centre at Vardzia, guide services and an English-language
telephone or email booking facility, but meanwhile for more information you can visit tgmproject
.googlepages.com or contact coordinator Malkhaz Jackelli (%32-752710, 899555032; mjackelli@gmail
.com) or guide Inga Tkemaladze (%899114506; tkemaladzeinga@yahoo.fr). Both speak English.

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

120 S A M T S K H E -J AVA K H E T I A k h a l t s i k h e

of the Assumption at the centre. To the west

of the church, in the area that developed out
of the 10th-century cave village of Ananuri,
you can see 40 cave groups with a total of
165 rooms, and six smaller churches. On
the east side are 79 cave groups, 244 rooms
and six more churches. The total includes 25
wine cellars!
Guides are usually available at the ticket
office; though none speak English, they can
help show you the most interesting caves for
a tip of a few lari.
At the heart of the cave complex is the Church
of the Assumption, with its two-arched portico.
The faade of the church has gone, but the
inside is beautiful. Frescoes portray many New
Testament scenes, and on the north wall depict
Tamar before she married (shown by the fact
that she is not wearing a wimple) alongside her
father, Giorgi III. These were painted between
1184 and 1186, the period of the churchs construction. The door to the left of the church
door leads into a long tunnel (perhaps 150m)
which climbs steps inside the rock and emerges
well above the church.
Vardzia suffered a major earthquake in 1283,
which shook away the outer walls of many
caves. As Georgian power suffered successive
waves of invaders, the monastery itself declined. In 1551 the Georgians were defeated by
the Persians in a battle in the caves themselves
and Vardzia was looted. Today Vardzia is again
a working monastery and you may meet some
of its inhabitants during your visit.

Sleeping
Theres clean, basic accommodation with hotwater bathrooms at Valodia Zazadzes Guesthouse
(%899116207; per person full board US$20) and a small
hotel run by Gocha Maisuradze (%898169915,
899543540; per person US$10). Theyre next to each
other, across the river from the cave city; you
can ask at the ticket office for directions. The
owners live on site. Its advisable to call in
advance if you want to ensure places.

Getting There & Away

On current schedules you can just about make
it to Vardzia and back in one day by marshrutka
from Akhaltsikhe, or even Borjomi. The first
marshrutka leaving Akhaltsikhe, at 10.30am,
reaches Vardzia around 12.30pm, giving you
just about enough time to see the site and
catch the last marshrutka back at 3pm (earlier
ones are at 8.30am, 9.30am and 1pm). But its

Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels

more comfortable and enjoyable to do it by

taxi, which normally costs 50 GEL round trip
from Akhaltiskhe or 120 GEL from Borjomi.
Drivers will stop at some of the sights on the
way, too.

SAPARA MONASTERY

Rivalling Vardzia as one of the most beautiful
places to visit in the region (and receiving just
a fraction of its visitors), Sapara Monastery
has a dramatic position clinging to the edge
of a cliff. It has existed from at least the 9th
century, and has numbered among its monks
many important figures in Georgian ecclesiastical history. At the end of the 13th century Sapara became a possession of the Jakeli
family, whose leader, Sargis Jakeli, was adept
at staying on good terms with the Mongols,
which enabled Samtskhe to enjoy a peace unusual for the time. When he grew old, Sargis
took monastic orders and changed his name
to Saba. His son Beka built the largest of the 12
churches here, St Sabas Church, named after the
saint whose name his father had adopted, one
of the most architecturally important churches
of its time. The 14th-century frescoes inside
are of high quality.
The first church on the left as you enter
the complex is St Stephens. To the south is the
earliest surviving structure, the 10th-century
Dormition Church, which used to house a famous 11th-century stone iconostasis (altar
screen), Kankeli. Three of the very fine reliefs
from this are now in the Fine Arts Museum
in Tbilisi (p57), and two are in the museum
in Akhaltsikhe (p120).
Sapara is about 12km southeast of
Akhaltsikhe, off the Vardzia road. The drive
is beautiful, and you will have great views
of the monastery 2km before you reach it.
Taxis charge around 15 GEL for the return
trip from Alkhaltsikhe.

GEORGIA DIRECTORY
ACCOMMODATION
Georgian accommodation is getting better
all the time and very rarely now will you
have to stay in a dowdy Soviet-era hotel
with flaking paint and cranky plumbing.
Tbilisi has dozens of comfortable, modern,
midrange hotels charging between US$50
and US$150 per double room, many of them

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on a refreshingly small, human scale with

attentive, friendly service. It also has a fastgrowing number of top-end international
chain hotels catering to business and official
travellers as well as some tourists with particularly generous budgets. Budget travellers
can select from a number of homestays or
economical guesthouses, usually with dorm
rooms. These are definitely not luxurious,
but theyre usually kept clean and are well
run. Theyre also great places to meet other
travellers, and their owners are often very
willing to provide travel advice and some
help with arrangements.
In the other cities and main regional towns,
the choices are similar but cheaper, and usually without the luxury top-end bracket. In
the villages in the mountains and elsewhere,
the options are usually limited to homestays.
These can provide some of your most enjoyable experiences in Georgia, with a warm welcome, and good home-cooked meals usually
available, for a typical price of 25 GEL to 40
GEL per person including breakfast and dinner. You may get a private room or you may
be sharing. Most of the better homestays now
provide hot-water bathrooms. Even in littlevisited places where there is no regular homestay, you will still almost always be able to find
a bed in someones home by asking around.
Camping in Georgia is also popular, and
a very cheap way to go. There are very few
organised campgrounds but equally few restrictions on wild camping. You should be
sensible about where you pitch a tent in the
mountains there can be the threat of bears or
wolves. If in doubt ask locals. The best place
to camp is often in someones garden, where
youll be enclosed and probably have access
to washing facilities.

ACTIVITIES
Walkers, climbers, horse-riders and birdwatchers will be in heaven in Georgia. There
are also opportunities for skiing, mountain
biking and rafting. The Caucasus mountains
stretched along Georgias northern border
provide a vast playground for anyone looking
for active travels.
The outstanding hiking regions are Svaneti,
Tusheti and the Kazbegi area in the Caucasus,
and the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park in
Samtskhe-Javakheti. There are also good walks
around Bakuriani in the hills near Borjomi,
and a fascinating new network of trails has

G E O R G I A D I R E C T O R Y A c t i v i t i e s 123

been developed in the upper Mtkvari valley

near Vardzia, south of Borjomi. On many
routes its fine to go without a guide, though
guides are available almost everywhere and
recommended for some of the more difficult
and remote routes. Serious trekkers will want
to do part or all of the route between Kazbegi
and Tusheti via the little-known region of
Khevsureti. Many walking routes can be done
on horseback too, and horses can be rented in
many of the same areas.
Give dogs a wide berth everywhere:
Georgian mountain dogs are bred for fending off wolves. Peter Nasmyths Walking in
the Caucasus Georgia is an excellent guide
to over 40 day routes all around the country.
Under Eagles Wings by Katharina Hberli and
Andrew Harker covers mountain, horseback
and ski touring routes as well as hikes. The
Georgian Speleologists Union (www.speleo.ge) has a
useful website with interactive maps describing walking and horse-riding routes around
the country.
The 5047m Mt Kazbek, near Kazbegi, is a
classic adventure for climbers, and not too
technical. Mt Chaukhi, east of Kazbegi, also
presents many exciting routes. Svaneti is another great mountaineering area: twin-peaked
Mt Ushba here is the countrys hardest climb
potentially dangerous and only for very
serious alpinists.
Georgia has two popular ski resorts, with
prices much lower than their European counterparts. Bakuriani is Georgias favourite family skiing destination, while Gudauri, in the
high Caucasus, offers longer runs, more developed facilities and the exciting possibility
of heliskiing.
Bird-watchers have a huge variety of
habitats to head for, from the wetlands of
Kolkheti National Park or the mountains
of the Caucasus, with their eagles and vultures, to the semi-desert terrain around
Davit Gareja. Excellent resources include
Caucasus Birding (www.birding-georgia.com) and
Lexo Gavashelishvilis Birdwatching Guide
to Georgia, Raptors & Owls of Georgia and
Vultures of Georgia.
Rafting is growing in popularity on rivers such as the Pshavis Aragvi, Tetri Aragvi,
Mtkvari and Rioni. A days outing from Tbilisi
can cost as little as US$20 per person. Two
recommended rafting outfits are Georgian
Adventures and Tours (www.geoadventures.ge) and
Jomardi Club (www.joma rdi.ge).

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

122 G E O R G I A D I R E C T O R Y A c c o m m o d a t i o n

Explore Georgia (p52) is a specialist in

activity-based tourism, and other good
Georgian tour companies, including Caucasus
Travel and GeorgiCa Travel, offer a wide
range of active trips.

BOOKS
Disappointingly little Georgian writing has
been translated into English, though there
are at least four versions of Shota Rustavelis
12th-century national classic, The Knight in
the Tiger Skin.
Englishman Donald Rayfield has translated some of Georgias other leading poets,
in volumes such as Aluda Ketelauri by Vazha
Pshavela and Georgian Poetry: Titsian and
Galaktion Tabidze.
Perhaps the two most widely published of
contemporary Georgian writers both write in
Russian and live in Russia.
Several of Boris Akunins highbrow detective and historical novels in the Erast
Fandorin and Sister Pelagia series are available
in English, as are Abkhazian Fasil Iskanders
Sandro of Chegem and The House Under the
Cypress Tree.
British Georgia-phile Peter Nasmyth provides a great introduction to the country in
Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry (revised
2006), roaming Georgia in time and space,
covering its past and present (including the
Rose Revolution) and visiting many of the
places you are likely to see.
Rogue reporter Thomas Goltz gives a
shrewd and colourful account of events since
1992 in Georgia Diary (2006), aptly subtitled
A Chronicle of War & Political Chaos in the
Post-Soviet Caucasus.
A great read for anyone interested in
Georgias section of the Caucasus, with a bit
of Azerbaijan and Turkey thrown in too, is
Tony Davidsons Bread and Ashes (2003),
filled with the character of the land and its
people. The author walks from Tusheti to
Svaneti, with a couple of detours and many
fascinating digressions.
The Spiritual Treasure of Georgia (Khelovneba Publishers, 2005) is a lovely coffee-table
tome covering the architecture, art and history of nearly 100 of the countrys churches,
monasteries and convents, with text in both
English and Georgian. National Treasures of
Georgia, edited by Ori G Soltes (2001), is a
similarly lavish look at the whole spectrum
of Georgian arts and crafts. For out-and-out

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history theres The Making of the Georgian

Nation by Ronald Grigor Suny (1994).
For a practical introduction to the
Georgian language, try Survival Georgian
by Patricia Hall and Tatyana Bukia (1996),
or Georgian by Nicholas Awde and Thea
Khitarishvili (1997).

BUSINESS HOURS
Food shops are usually open every day from
about 9am to 9pm. Other shops tend to open
from 10am to 7pm Monday to Saturday.
Banking hours are typically 9.30am to 5.30pm
Monday to Friday, with a one- or two-hour
break for lunch.
Typical Georgian restaurant hours are from
noon to midnight.
Any exceptions to this are listed for individual
restaurants.

CUSTOMS REGULATIONS
Valuable works of art or antiques require a
licence from the Ministry of Culture (Map p54;
%932295; www.mcs.gov.ge; Sanapiro 4, Tbilisi) if you
want to take them out of Georgia. Some galleries and shops will provide this, but private
vendors are unlikely to. You may have to pay
a heavy export duty.
Arriving in Georgia, any medicines you
carry should be for personal use and accompanied by a doctors statement. In theory you
may have to pay import duty on any item of
goods worth more than 300 GEL. There is no
limit on the amount of any currency you can
bring into Georgia, but you are supposed to
declare it on a customs form, of which you
will get a copy to keep.
The currency amounts declared on entry can
be exported without making another declaration. Customs rules are posted on the website
of the Georgian border police (www.gb g.ge).

EMBASSIES & CONSULATES

Foreign embassies and consulates in Georgia
include the following (all in Tbilisi unless
stated):
Armenia (Map pp48-9; %959443; armemb@caucasus.net;
Tetelashvili 4; h10.30am-1pm Mon-Fri)
Azerbaijan (Map p56; %252639, 253526; fax 250014;
Kipshidze II-Bl No 1; h10am-noon Mon-Fri, documents
distributed 4-5pm)
China (Map pp48-9; %252286; zhangling@access.sanet
.ge; Barnov 52)
France (Map pp48-9; %934210, 922851; ambafrance@access
.sanet.ge; Gogebashvili 15; h9am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Thu)

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Germany Embassy (Map pp48-9; %447300; www.tiflis.diplo

.de; Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel, Telavi 20) Consulate (Map
pp48-9; %435399; Davit Aghmashenebeli 166)
Iran (Map p56; %913656; fax 913628; Chavchavadzis gamziri
80; h10am-1pm Mon-Fri)
Israel (Map pp48-9; %964457; tbilisi.mfa.gov.il; Davit
Aghmashenebeli 61)
Netherlands (Map pp48-9; %276200; www.dutchembassy
.ge; Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel, Telavi 20)
Russia Embassy (Map p56; %912406; www.georgia.mid.ru;
Chavchavadzis gamziri 51) Consulate (Map p56; %912782;
Chavchavadzis gamziri 53)
Turkey Embassy (Map p56; %252072, 252076; fax 220666;
Chavchavadzis gamziri 35; h10am-12.30pm & 2-4.30pm
Mon-Fri) Consulate (Map p90; % 222-74790; Memed
Abashidze 8, Batumi)
Ukraine (Map p56; %311161; emb_ge@mfa.gov.ua;
Oniashvili 75)
UK (Map pp48-9; %274747; www.britishembassy.gov.uk
/georgia; GMT Plaza, Tavisuplebis moedani 4; h9am-1pm
& 2-5pm Mon-Fri)
USA (%277000; georgia.usembassy.gov; George Balanchine
11, Didi Dighomi, Tbilisi; h9am-6pm Mon-Fri)

Details of other embassies and consulates

in Georgia, as well as Georgian embassies
in other countries, are on the website of the
Georgian Foreign Ministry (www.mfa. gov.ge).

FESTIVALS & EVENTS

Every region of Georgia has its special festivities.
Here are some of the main ones:
Mariamoba (28 August) Day of the Assumption of the
Virgin Mary, celebrated nationwide.
Alaverdoba (September) Kakhetis main religious
celebrations, focusing on Alaverdi Cathedral and lasting
three weeks, climaxing on 14 September.
Mtskhetoba (14 October) Mtskhetas significance is
underlined by the fact that its annual festival is also a
national holiday.
Wine Festival (one weekend in October) In Sighnaghi.
Tbilisoba (last weekend in October) All Tbilisi moves into
party mode.

HOLIDAYS

New Years Day 1 January

Orthodox Christmas Day 7 January
Epiphany 19 January
Mothers Day 3 March
Womens Day 8 March
Orthodox Easter Sunday & Monday April or May;
dates vary according to the church calendar

National Unity Day/Independence Restoration

Day 9 April
Victory Day 9 May
Independence Day 26 May

G E O R G I A D I R E C T O R Y Fe s t i v a l s & E v e n t s 125

Mariamoba (Assumption) 28 August

Svetitskhovloba (Day of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral,
Mtskheta) 14 October
Giorgoba (St Georges Day) 23 November

INTERNET RESOURCES

georgien.blogspot.com Huge number of links to news

sites, blogs etc.

www.aboutgeorgia.net Good for cultural and

historical background, with interesting maps.
www.civil.ge An excellent news site, with stories from
many different sources.
www.tourism.gov.ge The official tourism site sings
Georgias praises in words and pictures but is short on
useful practical detail.
www.tourism-association.ge The developing site of
the Georgian Tourism Association covers homestays, active
tourism and more.
The websites of some of Georgias TV stations (p126) and its English-language newspapers (below) are excellent sources of news,
features and listings in English.

MAPS
Good topographic maps are important if you
are trekking or climbing. The best currently
available are Soviet military 1:50,000 sheets
produced in the 1970s and 80s. You can buy
them by email or in person for 5 GEL per
sheet (there are around 260 different sheets
for Georgia) from Geoland in Tbilisi, which
is also a source of other good Georgia maps
(see p50).

MEDIA
The Georgian media is probably the freest in
the Caucasus. While scrutiny of the government is generally seen as beneficial for the
countrys democracy, the standard of journalism is variable and some outlets are owned
by business figures with their own agendas
to pursue. There are also some complaints
of government pressure on independently
owned media.

Newspapers
The main daily newspapers in Georgian are 24
Saati (24 Hours), Rezonansi (Resonance) and
Sakartvelos Respublika (Republic of Georgia).
The daily Svobodnaya Gruzia (Free Georgia)
is the main Russian newspaper.
A surprising number of English-language
newspapers is available in Tbilisi. Brightest
and breeziest is Georgia Today (www.georgia
today.ge), which comes out on Friday with a

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124 G E O R G I A D I R E C T O R Y B o o k s

lonelyplanet.com

mix of straight news, features and the excellent

Tbilisi Life supplement. The daily Messenger
(www.messenger.com.ge) is reasonably good
on news and entertainment listings. The
Georgian Times (www.geotimes.ge), published
on Monday, is pretty dry, but its website has
up-to-date news in English.

a convenient ATM nearby. You can make

purchases with credit cards at the better hotels, restaurants and some shops in Tbilisi,
but much less frequently outside the capital.
Travellers cheques can be exchanged only in
some banks.

Radio

The Georgian landline network is ancient, and

almost everyone has a mobile phone. You can
make calls to landlines within a town from
antiquated street phones using a 10-tetri coin.
To call a mobile phone or outside the city
youll need to find a call centre.

The government-funded Georgian Public

Broadcasting (www.gpb.ge) has two stations:
Sazogadoebrivi Radio (Public Radio;
102.4FM) has a worthy mix of news and talk,
while Radio 2 (100.9FM) is mainly music, for
a mainly middle-aged and older audience. The
independent Radio 105 (105FM) and Radio 1
(106.4FM) play music with a broader appeal.

TV
Youll find around 10 Georgian channels on
most TVs, including some regional ones, and
usually at least one Russian channel. Georgian
Public Broadcasting (www.gpb.ge) operates two
national channels: the main one, Sazogadoebrivi Televizia (Public TV), includes news,
documentaries, debates and sport.
Privately owned channels tend to get
bigger audiences, especially Rustavi 2 (www
.rustavi2.com.ge), whose broadcasting played a
big part in the Rose Revolution, and Imedi
TV (www.imedinews.ge), part owned by Georgian
tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili and Rupert
Murdochs News Corporation, which
became a thorn in the flesh of the Saakashvili
government.

MONEY
The currency of Georgia is the lari (GEL). Its
relatively steady, and was valued at 1.76 to
the US dollar in 2007. One lari is made up of
100 tetri (still referred to by many people as
kopecks!). Bank notes come in denominations
of one, two, five, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500
lari; coins are one, two, five, 10, 20 and 50
tetri, and one and two lari.
ATMs, generally accepting MasterCard,
Visa, Cirrus and Maestro cards, are plentiful
in cities and most towns.
They all issue lari and a few will dispense
US dollars as well. There are also plenty of
small money-exchange offices in most towns
and cities; they usually take US dollars, euros
or Russian roubles.
Its useful to have some of these currencies in cash for times when there isnt

TELEPHONE

Mobile Phones
Anyone with a mobile phone can easily get
a SIM card for a Georgian phone network.
If youre spending a couple of weeks in the
country, this is well worthwhile. SIM cards
usually cost just 5 GEL, and the three main
networks are Magti (www.magticom.ge), Geocell
(www.geocell.ge) and Beeline (www.georgia.beeline.net)
see p52 for their principal outlets in Tbilisi.
Geocell has the widest coverage, with Magti
close behind.
Once you have a Georgian SIM card you
can add credit by buying cards with scratchoff codes for units of 5 GEL or more from
many shops and kiosks.
Most mobile calls within Georgia, to mobile or fixed phones, cost around 0.28 GEL
per minute.

Phone Codes
CALLING GEORGIAN FIXED PHONES

Most Georgian cities have two area codes: one

for when you are calling from other countries
(usually starting with 3), and another for calls
from inside Georgia (usually starting with 2).
The Tbilisi city codes are %32 (international)
and %22 (domestic). Tbilisi fixed phones
have six-digit numbers. All other places have
five-digit numbers (and three-digit city or
area codes).
To call a Georgian fixed phone from outside Georgia, dial the country code (%995),
followed by the city or towns international
area code, then the number.
To call a fixed phone from another fixed
phone in the same Georgian town, just dial
the five- or six-digit local number. To call a
fixed phone from another fixed phone in a
different Georgian town, or from a mobile,
dial the long-distance access code (%8),

lonelyplanet.com

then the towns domestic area code, then the

local number.
CALLING GEORGIAN MOBILE NUMBERS

Georgian mobile-phone numbers have nine

digits, starting with 8. To call from outside
Georgia, dial the country code (%995), followed by the last eight digits of the mobile
number (omit the initial 8). To call a Georgian
mobile from within Georgia (from a landline
or another mobile), just dial the full nine-digit
mobile number.

G E O R G I A D I R E C T O R Y V i s a s 127

Byk Ksik Rail border with Azerbaijan visas not

available here.

Guguti/Tashir Road border with Armenia.

Krasny Most (Red Bridge, Tsiteli Khidi, Qrmz
Krp) Road border with Azerbaijan.
Ninotsminda/Bavra Road border with Armenia.
Poti Black Sea port visas not available here.
Sadakhlo/Bagratashen Road and rail border with
Armenia visas available for road travellers only.

Sarpi/Sarp Road border with Turkey.

Tbilisi International airport.
Tsodna (Postbina) Road border with Azerbaijan,
between Lagodekhi and Balakn.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS FROM GEORGIA

Vale/Posof Road border with Turkey, reached via

To call internationally from a Georgian

fixed phone, dial %8, then %10, then the
country code, the area code and the number.
International calls from Georgian mobiles
may require varying prefixes: from Geocell
phones its %+ followed by the country
code, the area code and the number. Service
providers can give you further information.

Akhaltsikhe.

VISAS
Citizens of EU countries, the USA, Canada,
Japan, Israel, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland,
Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino, Turkey,
Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab
Emirates, Oman, South Korea and CIS nations (except Russia) need no visa to visit
Georgia for up to 90 days.
If youre not from one of the above countries,
you can get a visa from a Georgian embassy
or consulate.
Visas are also issued at the official road
and air (but not rail or sea) entry points into
Georgia.
The standard fee for a 90-day, singleentry ordinary visa, which covers tourism,
is 60 GEL or its equivalent. Double-entry 90day visas (only available at consulates) are
90 GEL.
Visa-issuing procedures are pretty straightforward and can normally be completed in a
matter of minutes at entry points to Georgia,
although consulates require a few days
for processing.

Border Crossings
Georgias international entry and exit points
are as follows. Visas, for those who need
them, are available at the road and air entry
points only.
Batumi International airport (visas available) and Black
Sea port (visas not available).

The border with Russia at Zemo Larsi/

Chertov Most, north of Kazbegi, was only
open to Georgians and Russians for several years until 2006, when Russia closed it
(temporarily) to everybody.
The crossings from Russia into South
Ossetia (the Roki Tunnel) and Abkhazia
(Psou River between Gantiadi and Adler) are
considered illegal by Georgia. Some travellers
who continued on into Georgia after entering
South Ossetia or Abkhazia from Russia have
been fined or jailed. Others have got away
without problems.

Visas for Onward Travel

Twenty-one-day tourist visas for Armenia are
issued in a few minutes at land entry points
into Armenia for US$30.
The same visa from the Armenian embassy in Tbilisi costs US$51 and takes two
working days.
Azerbaijan visas (60 for many nationalities, US$100 for US citizens and US$101
for British citizens) are issued on arrival at
Baku airport, but if you are going by land
you need to arrange a visa in advance. The
Azerbaijan embassy in Tbilisi issues them in
three working days.
None of the Central Asian countries has
embassies in Tbilisi, so its best to get their
visas before you come, though you can apply
in Baku for Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan visas
(youll need an invitation letter or tourist
voucher for Uzbekistan, and sometimes for
Kazakhstan).
Iranian visas are most easily obtained with
the help of agencies such as Persian voyages
(www.persianvoyages.com) allow at least two weeks
for preparation before you actually apply. For

GEORGIA

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126 G E O R G I A D I R E C T O R Y M o n e y

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128 G E O R G I A D I R E C T O R Y W o r k

Turkey, most Westerners either need no visa

or can obtain it quickly at the border.

WORK
Many foreign businesses and international
organisations, including NGOs and charities,
operate in Georgia and run their Caucasus
operations from Tbilisi. If you want to look

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www.lonelyplanet.com

Lonely Planet Publications

129

for work with them in Georgia, you should

contact their offices outside the country.
There are few direct employment opportunities for foreigners in Georgia, save teaching
English. Organisations with large presences in
Georgia include the UN, the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
and the International Red Cross.

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